The Rift Trilogy: On a Matter of Twins
by Monster Cat Music Girl
Summary: It's after Tenrou Island. A mysterious woman with no guild who goes by the name 'Salamander' has been roaming around, and she asks Fairy Tail for help. In doing so, she reveals a secret that Natsu didn't even knew he had... Rated K plus for violence and muchas smoochas. Part two of the Rift Trilogy.
1. Chapter 1

**If you've just been browsing, this is the sequel to 'The 'Tail' of Meliera Kane'. I highly recommend that you read that first, otherwise you won't get what's going on. If you've been following the 'Tail', welcome to the sequel. The first chapter is on.**

Lucy gave Natsu a worried glance. Ever since Meliera's second death - first and only death to everyone else - he had been in a deep melancholy. He hadn't gotten drunk, or anything drastic, but he just looked tired all the time and didn't want to do anything. He had been getting better lately, thanks to the support of his guild.

_How terrible, to love someone and marry someone, only to have them ripped away from you just a few months later_, she reflected.

She was still getting used to the fact that it had been seven years since they went to Tenrou Island, when they had all been trapped in a time lock. Especially since she now had a monster debt to pay off for her rent.

"Who do you think this 'Salamander' is?" Levy asked her, finishing her hot chocolate.

"No clue," Lucy said. A guildless young woman, who was only known as 'Salamander', had been roaming Friore the past four years. She was so feared, it was said that all crime stopped whenever she entered a town and didn't resume till at least three days after she left. Nothing was known about her. She had no family or friends to speak of. It wasn't even known where she came from.

"There's a new museum exhibit this weekend," Mira said, taking their mugs. "It's about the unsolved mystery of Kari Dragonchild."

"Dragonchild?" Levy asked, wrinkling her nose. "Was she a Dragon Slayer?"

"That's what they think," Mira responded, "but nobody really knows."

"Maybe Natsu would like to go," Lucy mused.

Mira laughed. "The one time he went to a museum, he swore he would never go again. He hated it."

"Well, if you tell him that there's going to be another Dragon Slayer there," Levy said slyly.

Lucy laughed at her idea, thinking it excellent.

"Another Dragon Slayer where?" Natsu asked. All three girls jumped. They hadn't noticed that he had been there.

"At the museum this weekend," Lucy said. An interested look covered his face. "I'll take you if you promise not to fight her."

"Her?"

"Yes, her."

He bit his lip. "I suppose it couldn't be too bad," he finally said. The girls all smiled. He had rarely gone out since Meliera's death. This would be good for him.

**I noticed that so many fanfics cover Natsu's post-Igneel life, a few cover his time with Igneel, and even fewer cover how Igneel found him. I have yet to read one that's like this one. That being the fact that this fanfic covers his PRE-Igneel life. This one does.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Long chapter.**

"I don't smell her."

"Um, that might be because the exhibit is about her."

He gave Lucy a dirty look. "That wasn't very nice."

She shrugged. "You need to get out more."

Natsu lowered his head a bit, hiding the thoughtful look on his face.

"You're right." She started. "I do need to get out more," he continued. "It's just… hard to move on after Meliera."

"Hey," she said softly, rubbing his arm. "It's ok. It takes awhile. I told you that. You know that."

Natsu smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but the host of the exhibit stood and shouted, "Attention! Attention, please." The crowd quieted.

"As you all know, the person this exhibit is about was a young woman who called herself 'Kari Dragonchild'. She lived three hundred years ago in Friore. Her family is unknown, since she used a false surname. Kari first entered records at age eleven, having blown up her guildhall - whether on accident or on purpose, no one knows - and fleeing the scene, having killed her entire guild." The crowd tittered. "The Magic Council sent for her, and sent her on a series of missions in which she infiltrated three dark guilds and systematically destroyed them." The young boys dragged along by their mothers, most of the former being extraordinarily bored, started to perk up and get interested.

"Very little is known about her early life. She claimed that she had been raised by a dragon since she was four, which led to her surname of 'Dragonchild'. Another of her claims was that she was from the future, and - if she was insane or not - she made it a lifelong goal to return to a mysterious 'brother'. There is significant evidence for both of her claims.

"She was a powerful Fire Wizard, at any rate. While she was on her third mission, at age twelve, another dark guild destroyed the one that she was in and captured her. She drops out of sight after this event, though rumors at the time said that dark guild after guild destroyed each other for her and forced her to join their own guild. It was because of this the Magic Council put out a rule that said that a guild could not force an individual to join.

"The chain broke during her time in her twelfth guild. While the exact events are not known, investigators found the entire guild dead. All had been slaughtered in front of a pair of broken chains. They concluded she had grown tired of being fought over and escaped.

"She reappeared at age thirteen as a freelance wizard. According to stories, she had obtained a suit of mythical armor, known as Fate armor. Its exact properties are unknown, but it is known that it was very powerful.

"Her short and tragic life ended at fourteen when she vanished from knowledge. No one knows where she went. One person said that she was planning to return to the future. If she did make such an attempt, it must have killed her, for such a thing is not possible."

_Yeah, right_, Lucy thought to herself.

"She had no close friends but one. He had been seen with her on numerous occasions. He went missing a week after she did, so that was also a dead end."

The host turned to the curtain behind him.

"Kari had a portrait of herself done every year; her claim being that she wanted to show her 'brother' what she looked like. She only had three done, and all have survived. The interesting thing is, she wrote a message on the back of each portrait to her 'brother'. Kari also wrote a series of letters to him. They were compiled into a book called, _Dear Brother_, which is available at the gift shop.

"Now I'm sure you are all curious to see what she looks like, so I won't delay any longer." He pulled the curtain to show to the painting. The crowd _ooh_ed and _aah_ed at the masterpiece, but Natsu and Lucy just stared. The little girl looked exactly.

Like.

Natsu.

The pink hair, the slanted eyes - even the sharp teeth! She was identical to Natsu; they could have been twins. The only differences were that she was a girl and she lived three hundred years ago.

"I guess we discovered an ancestor of yours," Lucy laughed. She caught the strange look on his face. "Natsu?" He snapped out of it.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I just got this… really eerie feeling that I'd seen her before. Like I knew her."

Lucy gave him an odd look. "Well, the two of you _are _identical in just about every way."

"True."

They toured the exhibit for an hour then left. What really struck Lucy was the look in Kari's eyes. When she was eleven, she looked so happy and excited. The whole world was out there for her to explore. So young and innocent.

But when she was thirteen, she was an entirely different person. She looked tired and sad, like she had done and seen things that she shouldn't have done or seen. All of her youth and innocence was gone, replaced by premature age and darkness.

Lucy had purchased a copy of _Dear Brother_ and read it on the way home. It was interesting how she never once named her family. No names of her brother, or her parents. Every letter ended with _Love, Kari_. She could tell, though, from the tone of the letters, how she felt old before her time. Out of place. Alone.

_That poor girl_, she thought.

Once back at the guild, she described the exhibit to Mira, Bisca, and Levy. "That girl was so lonely her entire life," Mira sighed. "I wish I could go back in time and bring her to our guild and give her a family."

"I hoped she made it," Levy agreed. "I hope she finds her brother someday."

Behind everyone there was a long sharp _shink_. It repeated itself in a rhythm. The sound of a sword being sharpened. A long sword. And it wasn't Erza.

"Your security is rather lax," a female voice observed. The rhythm continued.

Bisca whispered, "It's the Salamander."

"Honestly," the Salamander continued, "I've encountered better security in a barn."

"Madam Salamander," Macao said stiffly. "How… kind of you to drop in." Everyone turned around. The Salamander was a slender young woman clad in fearsome looking armor, perched on the second floor fence. Not an inch of skin showed. She was sharpening a sword longer than she was tall.

Sheathing the sword on her back, she said, "I don't have time for pleasantries. It hurts my pride to say this, but… I require help." Wakaba spit out his drink. "There is a problem in a town that I am… shall we say, greatly interested in. It is a yearly occurrence, and I'm sick of dealing with it year after year. I would take care of it myself, but there is more than a little magic involved, so I would rather swallow my pride and ask for help than die." There was a hint of amusement in her voice. "I don't particularly care who goes with me, as long as they can hold their own in battle and don't need to be rescued every five minutes." She stood and threw a paper down. "Whoever comes needs to be at this location on this map at sunset tomorrow. Don't be late." With that, she walked out.

It was like a collective breath had been let out. Everyone started talking at once.

"Quiet!" Makarov shouted. Silence fell. "We don't have any time for bickering. What we need to know is if she is trustworthy.

"She's not very nice," Macao said, "but she's a woman of her word. If she needs help and admits it, then it's serious."

Makarov thought on it for a moment. "Erza, take Gray, Natsu and Lucy with you and meet with the Salamander. The four of you can deal with whatever is wrong if she's telling the truth, and deal with her if she's not." The issue was settled.


	3. Chapter 3: Rift Revalations

"Bleugh… Do we _have_ to ride, Erza?" Natsu asked.

"We're walking most of the way, Natsu," Erza explained. "We're going as far as we can in the cart, then we'll get out."

"Good…"

After exiting the cart, they walked for about five miles until they reached a clearing.

"Is this it?" Gray asked.

"I think so," Lucy said, studying the map.

"Good, because the sun is setting."

Natsu sniffed. "She's not here."

"If we've gone the wrong way," Happy started.

"You didn't," the Salamander said from a tree. They all jumped.

"I thought you said she wasn't here," Gray snapped at Natsu.

"Well, she wasn't!"

"Stop fighting, both of you," Erza growled. They stopped. The Salamander chuckled.

"You have them trained like dogs," she observed, jumping down. "And I wasn't here until a few seconds ago."

"So are we leaving or what?" Natsu demanded after a few awkward seconds.

"In the morning," the Salamander said. "I'd hate for you all to fall down a ravine in the dark and die. It would ruin my day."

"Us dying would ruin your day?" Happy echoed. "She's crazy," he whispered to Natsu.

"I can hear you," she said.

A few hours later the Salamander gasped and clutched her chest. She was breathing hard and fast. Natsu crouched next to her.

"Go away," she snarled. "I can deal with it myself." She gasped again.

"Your Rifts are shifting," he said quietly. She looked up. There was a knife at his throat almost instantly.

"How did you know about my Rifts?" she snapped.

"I had a friend who was a Rift Child," he answered, pulling away a little from the blade. "I know the signs. You shouldn't be alive."

"And yet here I am," she chuckled darkly. "I won't lie, most Rift Children's power kills them before they learn to control it. I was different, and so was your friend." She glared at them. "Go to sleep. I'm fine."

**Ok, an explaination is due. Rift Children's Rifts have a light side and a dark side, like the Force. The dark side tries to kill the Rift Child constantly. The light side helps the Rift Child against the dark side. They shift between the light and dark sides sometimes, and it's really painful. And more explanation is due. Most Rift Children have multiple Rifts, which gives them multiple kinds of magic. Meliera had three. The Salamander has five. Odd numbers of Rifts are best. If enough of your Rifts go dark, then you're dead. As I said, Rift shifting (Hey, I made a rhyme!) is very painful, hence the Salamander's reaction. A piece of advice – If a Rift Child's Rifts are shifting, unless they really trust you, don't interfere. You'll probably get your head ripped off.**


	4. Chapter 4: Foster Siblings

At dawn they left. "To get a headstart on the day," the Salamander explained. Lucy suspected that it was really just to annoy them.

It was interesting, watching the Salamander. Even though she didn't have a pack - she didn't have anything except her armor and her sword - she had changed from her armor to a comfortable brown travel outfit. Her head was covered by a brown cloth wrapped around it and a pair of goggles/sunglasses.

Trying to be friendly, Lucy asked the Salamander, "So, where do you come from?"

She turned her head towards Lucy. Returning her gaze to the trail, she replied, "Around here." _Not very specific, but it's something._

"You have any family that you visit?"

She stopped this time and gave Lucy a long stare. "No," she said, "I don't. None that I visit."

She tried one last time. "So, what _is _your name?"

"Why do you insist in prying in to my affairs?" the Salamander said.

Lucy didn't know where she got the gall to say this - she was scarier than Erza - "Why are you so cold?"

The Salamander stared at her. "You have gall. I admire that in a person." She resumed walking. "My heart died when my brother did." She felt horrible for asking now.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," Gray said. "Let it be. She's still hurting from something. Let her recover in peace."

They heard a commotion in the trees. Upon investigating, they saw that a robbery was taking place. The Salamander didn't say anything until Natsu said, "Let's get 'em!"

"No," the Salamander said. The others turned and looked at her. "It's none of our business. Come." She turned and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Natsu growled.

"I'm leaving. Now come, all of you."

"No."

She turned. "What did you say to me, boy?"

"I said no. Everyone else in the world might be afraid of you, but I'm not. I don't care if I have to fight you or every robber in Friore. I'm going to go help them." With that, he turned and ran down the hill. Everyone else followed him.

When they were done, they returned to where the Salamander was waiting for them with a small fire. Her head gear had changed so they could see her mouth.

"Excellent," she said. "You passed."

They all looked at each other. "Passed what?"

She gave them a toothy grin. "Passed the test, of course. No, I didn't stage the robbery; it was just a happy coincidence."

"Happy?" Natsu asked with anger. The Salamander ignored him and went on.

"If you had gone to help them, I would have told you not to. Just to see what would happen. If you obeyed me, I would have lost you in the forest. If you had helped the robbers… well, I would have killed you all."

"It was a test of character," Erza mused. The Salamander nodded and bit into her bread.

"You would have let them get robbed, or even die?" Natsu said quietly. "If we had obeyed you, you would have let that happen?"

"Calm down, little animal," she said, her mouth quirking in a half smile.

"I'd rather be an animal than a heartless monster like you!" he snapped. The skin around her mouth went pale.

"Natsu, calm down," Erza said. He turned around and walked away.

"I can see why your parents abandoned you, boy," the Salamander called after him. Natsu froze.

"What… did you say to me?" he asked. Erza saw the look on his face and started pulling Lucy and Gray away. The dark rage in his voice was quite possibly the scariest thing Lucy had ever heard.

"You heard me, boy," she said.

Natsu yelled and jumped toward her, fire swirling around his fists. The Salamander dodged away, drawing her sword. Her clothes shone with a bright light, and when it vanished, she was wearing her armor.

"Erza, stop them," Lucy exclaimed. She was shaking her head.

"Natsu needs to sort this out himself," Erza said. She proceeded to tell Lucy about the time shortly after Natsu had joined the guild as a child when Gray had told him a similar thing. He proceeded to beat the crap out of Gray, even hitting Erza when she tried to separate them. It took Mira pulling on Gray and Erza pulling on Natsu to separate them.

The Salamander was an excellent fighter. Neither of them could hit the other. Finally Natsu shouted, "Fire Dragon Roar!" and a burst of flames came from his mouth and enveloped the Salamander. All they could see was fire for a moment, then it all seemed to rush inwards.

The Salamander was eating the fire.

"What the," Natsu started to say.

She finished the fire. "Your fire's tasty, boy!" she laughed. He just stared. "Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" she yelled. He snapped out of his shock too late to avoid her punch. Natsu went flying. The Salamander stood over him. "Do you know who I am?" she asked. He shook his head warily. "I am the Salamander, daughter of Igneel." She grabbed his scarf and pulled him to his feet. "Nice fighting with you, bro."

**Well this is complicated. Yes, Natsu has a foster sister. The reason he hasn't known about her before, is, well… complicated. Uh… It'll all be explained later, I promise.**


	5. Chapter 5: A Peek into the Past

"I have a foster sister," Natsu said for the upteenth time. "Wait a second. How is Igneel your -"

"Father?" the Salamander asked with a laugh. "It's complicated, and I'll explain it later."

"Grr… Why won't you tell me now?"

"Because you're whining, that's why."

"I'm not whining!"

While he continued to bicker with her, Gray said, "Well, they're acting like siblings. At least they're not fighting. You know, I don't think they really are siblings. They're so different."

"Shut up, Gray!" they both yelled in the exact same tone of voice.

"Nevermind," he sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. "They're siblings."

The town wasn't very big, but it was cozy. "What is this town called?" Lucy asked.

"It's called Storande," the Salamander replied with a hint of pride."My hometown." They all stared at her. "What?" she asked. "Can I not have a hometown?"

When they entered town, a few just stared, a few called out something friendly, but most just glanced up then resumed work. A young man noticed them and waved.

"Hiya, Sal!" he shouted.

"Sal?" Gray asked incredulously.

"Sal," she confirmed. "Short for Salamander. They all know not to call me by my real name when I have guests."

The man ran up to them. "Sal. who are your -" He froze. "Natsu? Natsu Dragneel?"

"Uh… yes?"

The man exploded with a mixture of anger and happiness. "Where have you been, dude? We thought you were dead!"

"Whoa, there, Ronu," the Salamander said. "Calm down. Natsu, you remember Ronu, right?"

"Uh… am I supposed to?"

The Salamander and Ronu looked at each other. "Yes," Ronu said, "yes, you are. Sal, are you sure it's him?"

"Yeah, but I'll double check." She looked behind his left ear, pulling sharply.

"Ow!"

"Quit complaining. Yup, it's him."

"How did you know about that scar?" Natsu demanded, rubbing his ear.

The Salamander sighed. "Because after Ronu tried to cave your head in with a stick when you were four, I sat on you so you would sit still long enough for the stitches to be put in."

"It was an accident!" Ronu protested.

"You ran around screaming for five minutes. That was so funny," the Salamander chuckled.

"Oh yeah? _You_ ran to your house screaming for your father, and when he came out you yelled, 'Dad! Natsu's dead!"

Everyone except Natsu laughed. The Salamander seemed a lot more relaxed in her home town.

"Ok, enough," she said. "Ronu, can I speak to you for a moment?" Natsu was probably the only one of them who caught the entire conversation, while the others had to make do.

"... don't understand…"

"...probably lost his memory…"

"...super worried…"

"...going to tell him?"

"Enough. I'll take them to the library."

The Fairy Tail wizards looked at each other. What was in the library? They followed the Salamander into a building, which was full of books. _Guess this is the library._ Erza pulled her away from the books and into the back room.

"A little help here?" the Salamander grunted as she pushed aside a bookcase. With Natsu's help, it was pushed quickly aside. A hidden staircase was revealed behind it. At the bottom of the stairs was a small room. There was a projector screen, a video camera/projector, and tapes scattered around the room.

"What is this place?" Gray asked.

"The Memory Room," the Salamander said sadly. No one questioned her further on the subject. She picked up a tape and blew on it through her visor. Everyone started sneezing. "Ok," she said, "here's the first. Sit around the screen. What I will show you will explain why you are here."

While the Salamander messed with the camera, Lucy picked up one of the tapes and studied it. Half had melted off and the rest was burned. _What happened?_ she wondered.

"Ah, here we are." She pressed a button.

"-working? Is this working? Is this - Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, it's working! It's - oh, wait, the video's not on." There was a click, and a girl's face appeared. "Hey, it's working! I am a genius. Tonan! It's working!" A boy's voice came from the background.

"Great. Mina, just - Take it outside, or something."

The camera was set down. "It's my house too, you tyrant!"

"I'm not a tyrant!"

"The Great Tyrant Tonan," the girl said in a dramatic voice.

"Can it, Mina!"

"Fine! Ignore him; he's my older brother. As you heard, he is Tonan, and I am Mina, and this is my invention."

"You didn't invent the video camera, Mina."

"Well, I build this one from scratch, so beat that!" She picked it up again. "Sorry. This is a crappy first entry. Maybe I'll delete it; I don't know."

A man's voice now. "Mina, Tonan, dinner!"

"Coming, Dad!" they both yelled.

"Oh, wait, the zoom is on all the way. Haha, you've probably seen just my face. Well, here's my entire face." It zoomed out to show her entire head.

Pink hair and all.

"Ok, got to get dinner, I'll see you later. Kisses!" She blew a kiss at the screen, then it turned off.

"Who was that?" Natsu demanded.

"You'll see," the Salamander said cryptically.

The screen clicked on again.

"Ok, here's a proper introduction," the girl said. "My name is Mina. I am the youngest - soon to be middle - of two children, duh. My father's name is Damon, I think. I'm just eight. My brother Tonan is ten. Mom isn't here. She doesn't come very often. But she's going to have a baby soon, and I'm gonna be a big sister. It's going to be awesome! If it's a girl, we're going to call her Gina, and if it's a boy we're going to call him Buyen. Tonan thinks they're stupid names, but that's what I want to call them." She gasped. "What if it's twins? What are we going to call them? Or triplets? Oh my gosh, this is insane.

"Anyway, I should tell you my nicknames. I'm 'Princess Mina', Tonan is the 'Tyrant Tonan', Dad is the 'High Overlord', and Mom is the 'Lovely Queen'." She sighed. "I wish Mom was here more often. She's in a guild; I don't know which one, cause she never says. Her guild doesn't know that she's married, and has two kids - soon to be three."

The camera clicked and turned off again.

"Why are you showing us this?" Erza asked.

"It will explain why you are here," the Salamander said.

"Well, why won't you tell us now?"

"Because, you need to truly understand the reasons behind this, and the only way is to watch this."

The next video clicked on. Mina's eyes were wide.

"Mom's here, and she having the bay-bee. I don't like having to wait." She shook her head.

"Oh well. But I'll have a baby brother or sister at the end of today. I hope it's a boy. A little brother would be so much fun." It clicked off, then clicked back on. "Um… I'm not sure what to say. Mom had twins. And, uh, one of them is really powerful. Really powerful. She kind of drove the midwife insane by accident, so we don't know which one is the older one. More on it later."

Clicked on and off again. "Shh," Mina whispered. "The babies are sleeping. Here, I'll show them to you." The camera jiggled as she carried it to another room. A door opened to a darkened room. A crib sat by a covered window. "They don't like being separated. I would think that after being stuck together for nine months they would get tired of each other, but they completely adore each other." The camera moved toward the crib until it could see the babies inside, closely nestled together. "The one on the left is the girl. She's the one who drove the midwife crazy. Her name is Kari. The one on the right is the boy. I like both of my siblings, but I like the boy better. His name is Natsu."

**Duh duh DUH! You know how I said that this fanfiction covers Natsu's pre-Igneel life? Well, here is is. And now it appears that the Salamander knew Natsu when they were little. Hmm… should I?... I will. I'm not going to post the next chapter until I get seven theories about who the Salamander is. Ha! Yes, I'm evil.**


	6. Chapter 6: Family

"The one on the left is the girl. She's the one who drove the midwife crazy. Her name is Kari. We named Kari after some girl that lived three hundred years ago. The one on the right is the boy. I like both of my siblings, but I like the boy better. His name is Natsu. "

It clicked off. Lucy glanced at Natsu. He was pale. "Is that…?" he started to whisper, but the Salamander held a finger to her mouth.

The Salamander showed them several more videos until Natsu said, "Enough." The current video paused. "Do you really expect me to believe that that's me?"

"It's rather obvious, isn't it?' she responded.

"No," he growled, "it isn't. There could be any number of Natsu's running around Friore."

The Salamander nodded."You're right. There could be any number of men with the name Natsu. You'll see my point if you finish this video."

Mina came back on. She was upside down on her bed.

"I have decided," she said dramatically, "that I want to be a reporter when I grow up. I'll start practicing now!" She stood and pointed the camera at herself. "Mina, reporting for whatever station that hires me."

"That's not how you do it, idiot," Tonan yelled from downstairs.

"Then how do I do it, you smart aleck?" she yelled back.

"You use your whole name."

"Well, what if I'm super famous?"

"Then you can use just your first name. But until you do, use your whole name."

"Quit yelling at each other from across the house," their father yelled. "You have legs, you know, and not just voices."

"Yes, Dad," they both yelled.

"Ok. Here I go.

"Mina Dragneel, reporting for whatever station that hires me, from wherever the heck I am." Natsu was as white as a ghost. The Salamander put the next tape in.

The twins showed up. Their first birthday. "Happy birthday, Natsu and Kari," they were singing, "Happy birthday to you!" Tonan blew out the candle for them. The party was hilarious. Several times Mina pointed the camera at the birthday boy and girl, to show their cake covered faces. One time, after they had been let out of their high-chairs, Tonan yelled, "Dad! Natsu stripped again!" Gray snickered. Natsu clobbered him. He was red with embarrassment. The chase to get the birthday boy caught and put back in his clothes - and diaper - took about five minutes.

"Honestly," Mina panted. "I'm just glad that we always know which one is which. As you all saw, Kari has my pink hair, and Natsu has Tonan and Dad's brown hair. I wonder if only girls can get pink hair.

"Aha! I finally figured out what I'm going to call them twins: the 'Dragneel Rebellion'. I think it suits them."

The next video proved her wrong.

"Tonan," Mina said, crying with laughter, "is completely flipping out. Listen."

"Dad! Mina dyed Natsu's hair!"

"I did not!"

"_Then why is it pink_?" Mina was howling with laughter. She rolled out of bed and carried the camera to the twins room. Kari was calmly sitting in the crib, waiting to get out. Natsu, however, was flipping out. He had his hands in his hair, and his eyes were bulging, and he kept squealing, "PINK!" Kari sighed and tackled him, crawling over him and refusing to be pushed off. Gray sniggered.

"And that's them in a nutshell, folks," Mina chuckled.

* * *

The next video seemed to have skipped a couple years.

"What dis?" a small boy was asking.

"That, my good brother, is my video camera. Oh, crap, you turned it on. Oh, well."

"Na-ooh," a little girl exclaimed. "Na- ooh, where are you?"

"Uh-oh," Natsu said.

"What did you do this time, Natsu?" Mina sighed.

"Um… I might have acci… accide…"

"Accidentally?"

"Yeah, um… melted one of her toys?"

"Natsu!"

"Sowwy!"

"Natsu, you're two years old."

"Gonna be fwee soon," he muttered.

"Yes, I know you and Kari are going to be three next week. Dad showed you how to control your magic. At least try?"

"Ugh… fine.

"_Na-ooh!_"

"Rika found me!" There was scuffling, _ow_s, _stop that_s, and many more sounds of fighting.

"Natsu just can't get it through his thick head that her name is 'Kari', not 'Rika'." She gave an amused sigh. "He'll figure it out, I'm sure."

The next part was their birthday. The same as their first birthday, except there were at least a dozen three-year olds running around screaming. When they were about to eat their cake, Kari said, "Na-ooh. There a hair in your cake."

"Ew… really?"

"Yeah." He inspected the cake.

"I don't see it."

"Keep looking…" As Natsu bent over the cake, Kari stood on her chair and shoved his face down. He stayed there for a moment then pulled his face out of the cake. The look on his face was priceless. Happy, Gray, and Erza were all laughing.

"My… my cake…" Kari was howling at his confusion.

"Where did she learn that?" Mina asked Tonan.

"Hmm, let me think. It might have been she learned it when she saw you shove my face into my scrambled eggs yesterday."

"Oh, yeah, that. I forgot about that. Go, Kari!"

* * *

**As you can see, I added a little edit at the beginning that I meant to add the first time around. A lot of you think that the Salamander is Kari Dragonchild and/or Kari Dragneel. I'm going to counter this. The Salamander isn't very nice to Natsu, for one. Kari adored him and would do anything for him.**


	7. Chapter 7: A Loss

Another video showed Natsu getting really sick, but getting better after a week, and Kari receiving a letter inviting her to join an amazing - and expensive - school for free.

"I think Kari is a Rift Child," Mina told the camera one night before bed. "She's so powerful. So is Natsu. It's kind of scary. But the good news is that Natsu isn't burning down the forest anymore. Kari did something that locked away part of his magic. About two-thirds of it, from what we could understand from her babbling." Lucy could imagine the results of Natsu having all of his magic if this was true. He'd destroy everything for miles wherever he went. "But to do something like that… and she's just three and a half!

"Plus, she said something about her 'Rifts guiding her'. But, if she is a Rift Child, then she's going to die soon. Rift Children can't control all the magic that they have, and it kills them.

"Ok, I'm never going to sleep if I keep talking. G'night."

"Mina here. As usual. Kari left today. Natsu's super upset. He won't come out of his room. Oh, well." Her voice rose. "I guess Natsu's not getting any of the cake I made this afternoon while he was asleep!" Silence for a moment, then a door opened.

"Cake?"

Gray laughed. "Even as a kid, you're a sucker for food." Natsu clobbered him.

"Hey, cut it out," Erza snapped.

The next entry showed Mina with red eyes. "Kari's dead," she whispered. A shocked silence fell over the room. "At the school, she was, uh, she was messing with Spell Magic - we didn't even know she had Spell Magic! - and she was supposed to send a rock three days back in time to herself." Mina was sobbing now. "She must have known it wasn't going to work, because she hadn't seen a rock. But she did it anyway. Her teachers said that there was a small explosion, and then she was gone. Nothing was left but a smoking hole." The camera was put down so that they could see her whole body. Mina had her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms crossed. She sniffed. "Natsu is so upset. He didn't understand what we meant when we told him that Kari was dead." She gave an empty laugh. "The only kind of death he knew of is when he squashes bugs. When we told him, he thought that someone had squashed her. But… she's gone now…" She was silent for a long time. They could hear Natsu sobbing in the background.

The Dragneel household was a broken and quiet one after the news. The two older children, based on Mina's reports, took turns force-feeding Natsu.

Mina's face appeared. "Mom's here," she whispered. "She came pretty late tonight, and now she and Dad are freaking out about something. I keep hearing weird stuff, and I'm kind of scared."

"Mina? Are you awake?" Tonan whispered.

"Tonan? What's going on?"

"I don't know, but I'm going downstairs and finding out. You coming?"

"Yeah, just a sec." They both began creeping down the stairs. Their mother was hidden in the shadows, and their father was leaning against the fireplace, his head hanging.

"Kids, what are you doing up?" he asked.

"What's happening?" Tonan asked.

Their father sighed. "There are bad men coming, and they want Kari."

"But Kari's dead," Mina whispered.

"Yes. But they'll settle for Natsu. He's very powerful."

"Will they hurt him?" Her voice was shaking.

"Maybe, and they'll raise him to be a very bad man. Listen to me, both of you." His voice was stern now. "Your mother's going to take Natsu into the forest, far away from here. Maybe to her guild if it gets too unsafe. You two and I are going to stay here and stall for time."

"Can't I go with them?" Tonan pleaded. "I can protect them."

Their father chuckled. "A noble sentiment, my boy. But your mother will go faster if she just has Natsu. Ok?"

"Yes, Dad," they both said.

"Mina, go get your brother. Try not to wake him. And turn that blasted camera off." It clicked off.

**Well, that was unexpected. Kari Dragneel is dead, and Kari Dragonchild is… who knows where she is, if she isn't dead. So who the heck is the Salamander? Oh, and what is happening? *ridiculous announcer voice* Tune in next time for another short chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8: Sibling Revalations

"Mina, go get your brother. Try not to wake him. And turn that blasted camera off." It clicked off.

"What happened to them?" Natsu asked hoarsely. The Salamander bowed her head.

"I'll tell you later. It isn't important right now. Now that you know who you truly are, we -"

"No."

She seemed startled. "What do you mean, 'no'?"

"I mean, that's not my family."

"Natsu…" He was startled. The Salamander had never once called him by his name, always calling him 'boy'. "Natsu, why won't you accept that this is your family?"

He closed his eyes. "Because Fairy Tail is my family, and Igneel is my family."

"Why won't you accept it?"

"Because my family abandoned me!" he roared. They all stared at him. "They left me alone in the forest when I was four. They didn't care for me one bit."

"Grr! Why are you so freaking stubborn?! Calm down, calm down. Natsu, I honestly feel like clobbering you like I used to."

"Ok, who are you?" Natsu demanded. "Who are you really? What do you want?"

"I want you to know who you are. I want you to remember. Remember _me_."

"Who _are_ you?!" Natsu shouted.

Her voice broke. "You mean… you really don't remember? I know we were four the last time we saw each other, but you don't forget that kind of a relationship."

"Who," he asked a bit more quietly, but all the more menacing, "are you?"

The Salamander sighed and undid the clasps that held her helmet to the rest of her armor. She tentatively pulled her helmet off.

Pink hair spilled out.

**Yes, it's short and I haven't updated in a long time. Sorry. It's short for dramatic effect. **


	9. Chapter 9: Twins

The Salamander sighed and undid the clasps that held her helmet to the rest of her armor. She tentatively pulled her helmet off.

Pink hair spilled out.

"Natsu," she whispered. "Natsu, don't you remember me?" He stared blankly at her. She took his face in her hands. "Natsu, it's me; it's Kari. I'm alive." He was silent. "Natsu… please…" Natsu sighed and pulled her hands down.

"I'm sorry," he told her, "but I've never seen you before in my life." Kari closed her eyes and bowed her head, nodding gently.

"Ok," she whispered, her voice broken. Tears were spilling down her face. "I'll wait. I'll wait until you remember. Because we're twins, right? Twins don't leave each other. Never."

"Sal!" Ronu came rushing down the stairs. "Sal!" Seeing that her helmet was off, he just took it in stride and said, "Kari, they're coming."

"Oh. Oh dear," she murmured. "Natsu, I'm doing this because I love you. Sorry."

"Doing what? Oof!" She punched him hard and knocked him out.

"What was that for?" Erza demanded while Happy tried to attack her.

"I'm protecting him," Kari grunted, chaining him to a pole. "Erza, I love my brother very much. The people who are coming are just going to hurt him."

The earnestness in her eyes convinced them. "Ok," Erza said. "What do you need us to do?"

Kari smiled. "Erza, Gray, I need you to go outside with me to beat up the bad guys. Happy, you can either go out with us, or stay here with Lucy and Natsu." Happy was staying.

"Why am I staying?" Lucy protested. "I can fight too!"

"I know you can," Kari said with a small smile. "Lucy, I want you to stay here, not because I think you're weak, but because I want you to protect Natsu."

Thinking back on the numerous fights she had seen Natsu in, she said, "I don't think Natsu needs protecting."

"Can he fight while unconscious and chained up?"

"Uh…"

"Didn't think so. Please. Take care of him for me. And don't let him out, no matter how much he begs." The pleading in her eyes made Lucy agree more than her words.

"Ok, Ronu, when will they be here?"

"Any minute now," he said. "It was a surprise attack."

"Well, crap. Ok, people! Be ready to fight at a moment's notice!"

"Is this the reason we're here?" Gray asked. "To help you take out these goons?"

"Yes," she said, fire in her eyes. "I want to teach them to never come back. Oh, and in the event that I die, tell Natsu I love him and he gets my armor. I left it down there with him."

"Your armor?" Erza asked.

"Yup." She gave them a sharp toothed grin. "A full set of Fate armor, as well as a Fate sword." Erza's jaw dropped. "It was super hard to get, and I was salvaging for a decade."

The gate blew open and the fight began.

Kari's mind flew from one thought to another as she flew from one opponent to another. She tried not to dwell on Natsu too much. _He doesn't remember me._ That hurt more than any wound she had ever gotten.

The dark guild that had been attacking for years was large. It was hard to find the guild master. She loved her powerful sense of smell. It was so useful.

"Ah, Kari. We meet again." Dang, she hated that man. He had been making her town miserable since she was a little girl.

"Yes, we do." Her helmet was so confining. _Crap, girl, stay on target; don't get distracted._ "Well? Get on with it."

Magic versus magic, fire versus darkness. Natsu kept popping into her head, and tears would blur her vision. She ripped her helmet off.

"And we finally see your face. You're quite a pretty girl."

"Shut up," she snarled. He lunged at her and she lit her fist on fire and swung it at him. For a split second, however, she saw Natsu's face and hesitated. The master took advantage of her hesitation and hit her to the ground. She screamed in pain as he threw a boulder on her leg, crushing the pathetic armor she had donned before the battle. _After Fate armor, all armor is pathetic._ He grabbed her by the throat and pressed her against the rock.

"I'm finally able to cut your pretty little throat," he purred. He rose his knife.

_I love you, Natsu_, she thought.

Lucy watched Natsu as he woke up. "Crap," he said. He noticed that he was chained up. "Double crap." Then he noticed her. "Lucy, let me out." She shook her head, holding the key a little tighter. "Oh, come on, the fight's already started. Please?"

"No," she said. He begged for another five minutes, switching between threatening and freaking _adorable_, but it didn't work. Whenever she started to waver, Happy threatened to tell Erza that she let Natsu out. That worked.

They heard a scream of pain. Natsu went wide-eyed for a moment, then winced as if in pain. He whimpered for a few seconds, then his eyes snapped open.

"Kari!" he cried. "Lucy, let me out."

"Natsu, I told you already, I'm not -"

"Lucy, you have to! He's gonna kill her!" The uncontrollable panic in his eyes frightened her. Then she began fumbling with the key and unlocking him. The moment he could, he rushed up the stairs.

_Which way? Oh, crap, which way?_ Then he saw her. Her leg was pinned and a dagger was above her throat. He ran toward her at top speed. Natsu knew, though, that even at top speed he wouldn't make it in time.

**Uh-oh. Will Kari live, or will Natsu lose his beloved sister a second time?**


	10. Chapter 10: Just Us

**Hello again! Sorry I haven't been updating lately. A mixture of school, videogames, and working on unpublished stories has kept me from updating lately. That, and I've been grounded up until a few days ago. Also, I'll be writing more chapters for The 'Tail' of Meliera Kane. They will be telling about the five months that Meliera spent at Fairy Tail before dying again. Note: I haven't written any yet, so don't expect it for a while ;)  
**

* * *

Kari waited for the blade to come down. There was nothing else she could do. It started its descent. There was a roar of sheer rage and the knife only hit her cheek. A shallow cut. Wouldn't even leave a scar. She fell to her hands. _Natsu!_ The joy in her heart contrasted with the panic.

"Don't," he said, his voice trembling with rage, "touch my sister." _He remembers?_

"Natsu!" she cried out. He glanced back at her and gave her a smile. Then he proceeded to beat the crap out of the guy for daring to touch Kari. After finishing, he ran to her and wrapped her in his arms.

"Oh, Kari," he whispered. "I thought I was going to lose you."

She held him tightly. "It takes a lot more than that to kill a Dragneel," she laughed. Natsu pulled back and looked at her. "You remember," she murmured, stroking his face tentatively.

"Yeah," he said.

"Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"My leg?"

"Oh, right." He lifted the rock off her leg and picked her up. "Is it broken?" he asked.

Kari touched her ankle and grimaced. "No, but it's sprained pretty badly. Relax, I'll live. I've gotten worse wounds than this."

The others were delighted to find out that he had regained his memory and reconciled with Kari. Natsu couldn't stop grinning. As they watched her getting her ankle wrapped and listening with smiles as the twins caught up.

"Where are the others?" Natsu asked.

"What others?" Kari said, frowning.

"Uh, Mom, and Dad, and Mina, and Tonan?"

Kari hesitated for a moment. "Natsu, they're -"

"Gah! I'm such an idiot!"

"Got that right," Gray smirked.

"What did you say to me, Squinty Eyes?"

Kari gave them a scary look that shut them up. Natsu continued, "Of course! They're back at home!" He ran out the door.

"Crap," Kari muttered. "Give me a crutch. Now."

Natsu ran down the trail that he knew led to his house. Excitement bubbled up inside. He couldn't wait to get home and see his father and siblings again. It had been over twenty years since they had last seen each other, and all the things they were going to do… He couldn't wait! Dad had told him that he would take him fishing when he was seven; maybe they could do it now. He imagined his older siblings' reactions when they saw him. Mina would laugh that contagious laugh and give that crooked smile. Tonan would most likely put him in a headlock and give him a noogie, if he hadn't changed. Natsu hated noogies, but he wouldn't mind too much this time. And they would -

He stopped running as he reached the clearing where he had once lived. His eyes took in the blackened ruins that was once his home. All that remained was a few blackened timbers.

"What?" he whispered. What had happened? Where was his family? He heard an awkward stumbling behind him. Kari hopped into the clearing.

"Crap, Natsu, you've gotten fast," she panted.

"Kari, where are they?" he asked as she caught her breath. "What happened to the house?"

"It burned down," she said softly.

"Ok," he said, "where are Dad and the others?" She looked away. _No._

"Natsu, they've… they've been gone for a while." _It can't be. They can't be gone._

"What happened?" he asked past the lump in his throat.

"I don't know."

"You must know something!" he shouted.

"I don't know."

He squeezed his eyes shut to restrain the flood. "What happened to them then?"

* * *

Lucy went back down to the library's basement. She had noticed that there had been one video tape that Kari had avoided. She wondered why that was.

Putting the video in, she saw that it picked up where the last one had left off.

"Mom's taken Natsu away. The bad guys are here, and Dad is outside talking to them."

"I told you," he was saying, "both of my children are here, and neither are powerful."

"Wow, thanks, Dad," Mina said softly.

"Well, I don't believe you," another man was saying. "Do you know what I do to people who lie to me?"

"No," their father said warily.

"This."

There was the sound of something sharp going into something soft, then a thud. Mina dropped the camera. "Daddy, oh, Daddy," she whispered in horror.

"Find the brat," the man commanded. "Then torch the place."

The door was broken down, and feet thudded up the stairs. She could hear Tonan yelling, "What did you do to my father?!" Mina tried to bar the door, but it was too late. Men dragged her kicking and screaming out.

"The brat isn't here," a man reported.

"Then burn the house and find him."

"What about the kids?"

"I said burn the house." Lucy sat petrified in horror. She could hear Mina and Tonan screaming as the flames grew higher. Something fell and turned the camera off. The next entry showed Mina heavily bandaged.

"Dad's gone," she said, laboring to get every word out. "They killed him… stabbed him through the heart… and Tonan… he got me out of the house… and then he died." She choked back a sob. "He died right there after saving me. And now I'm dying." She sighed and leaned back. "They didn't tell me that. But I can feel it. I can see it in their eyes. Natsu, Mom… if you're watching this, I'm glad. I'm glad that you two survived. If not… well, there isn't much use in this existing, is there?" She chuckled. "I'm glad you're alive… I'm glad…" Her eyes closed for the last time.

* * *

**Well, that sucks. Now, how the heck did Kari survive? Time travel, of course, as I'm sure most of you have figured out.**


	11. Chapter 11: Oh Crap, There's Two Of Them

**Cue explosion in three, two, one.**

* * *

Natsu leaned against a tree, his eyes closed as tears streamed down his face. Kari had told him what she had been told about their family, and the last video.

"Where were you?" he asked, taking a shaky breath.

"Pardon?" She seemed confused.

"If you've been alive all this time, then where were you? I want to know, now!"

"Natsu, I -"

"If you missed me as much as you claimed, you would have tracked me down before now."

His face was suddenly burning. He stared at her in shock. Kari was an angry red as she returned her hand to her pocket.

"Natsu, that day I was fooling with Time. _Time_. Instead of sending a rock back three days back in time, I sent myself back in time three hundred years. I spent ten years in that time trying to get back. When I get back to this time, and you know the first thing I do after I find out what happened? I start searching for you. I track you down to a guild, and I ask after you. Do you know what they told me?" He shook his head. Tears filled her eyes. "They told me that you were dead. They said that you had died, three years before, on Tenrou Island."

"Kari, I'm… I'm sorry; I wasn't thinking straight. It's just been a huge shock, all of this."

"It's ok," she said, wiping her eyes. "I probably would have done the same thing." He hugged her.

"Hey," she said. "I can't breathe."

"Sorry." He stepped back. "We should probably be getting back."

"Yeah."

* * *

"Please?"

"Natsu, I told you, no," Kari laughed. "I'm not going with you."

"Why not?" he whined.

"Because, I have a job that I need to get to."

"But what about your ankle?"

"It's an easy job; I won't need my legs unless something goes terribly, horribly wrong."

"But what if it does?" he insisted. Lucy and Erza tried not to laugh. Natsu had quickly and easily assumed the role of the over-protective brother.

"It's not going to," Kari said, starting to get annoyed. "Natsu, if you don't stop, I'm going to clobber you."

"Sorry, I just don't want to lose you again." His voice was quiet, like it had been after he and Kari had visited their family's graves.

"Tell you what," Kari said. Natsu perked up. "After I'm done with these jobs, I'll come and stay a week with you."

He grinned. "Promise?"

"Promise," she told him. "And I might think about joining if it isn't too bad." Natsu's eyes went wide before she gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "I'll be seeing you around, bro."

"You too. Be safe!" he shouted after her."

"Don't make me clobber you!" They all laughed as they saw her off. As her train was departing, she shouted, "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone!"

"I'm _your_ brother! Of course I am!"

* * *

"There's a letter for you, Natsu," Mira called. He all but ripped it from her hands. "Someone's expecting news," she chuckled. He read it quickly.

"YES!" he shouted, breathing fire all over the place. "She's coming!"

"Natsu's lady friend?" Mira asked Lucy as she took her plate. Natsu had asked them not to tell the guild about Kari, wanting it to be a surprise. The guild was figuring it out piece by piece, but right now, they thought he had a girlfriend. Natsu was too oblivious to realize that they thought that his 'good friend' was his girlfriend though.

"She's coming tomorrow, and then I get to ask her!" Natsu yelled.

"Calm down, Slanty Eyes," Gray said.

"What did you say to me?!" As they fought, Mira asked Lucy, "Is Natsu planning on proposing to her?" Lucy just smiled at her ignorance. "Oh, that's so cute! I'm glad he's getting better over Meliera." _Not likely_, she thought.

Even Gray's comments and a beating from Erza couldn't put Natsu out of his good mood. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet all day. The next morning found him jabbering all the way to the train station. When her train pulled in, he peered around anxiously for her. Oh, there she was. She staggered out of the car, holding her belly. _Ha! She gets motion sick too._ Kari wasn't wearing her armor, but she was wearing a headscarf that hid her face.

"How was your train ride?" he asked with an evil grin. She glared at him.

"Just dandy," she muttered.

"Come on," he said. "I want you to meet my foster family." After she recovered from her motion sickness, she talked avidly. They were both laughing when they arrived at the guildhall. She paused outside,

"This is a big guild," she said at last.

Natsu took her hand. "It's not that big. It's really small now, actually. You've been here before, too. And everybody's really nice."

Kari smiled and squeezed his hand. "Ok. It's just… I've had bad experiences with guilds."

He grinned and said, "You haven't really met my guild yet." Lucy turned as Natsu kicked open the door. He had Kari with him. "We're here!" he shouted.

"Like we didn't notice," Gray snorted.

"At least he came in like a man!" Elfman exclaimed. Kari stood at the door as she watched the large fight unfold.

"Is it always like this?" she asked Mira as she came up to welcome her.

"Not always," Mira smiled, "but Natsu does shake things up when he comes back. What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Kari."

"Nice to meet you, Kari."

"Kari!" Natsu shouted. "Fight me!" Gray kicked him and sent him flying.

"Later!" she shouted back, then muttered, "you wild freak."

"I heard that!"

"Oh, shut up!" she laughed.

"Natsu started a fight the first time I came here, too," Lucy laughed. "He and Gray are like…"

"Brothers?" Kari suggested. "He and Tonan were like that all the time."

"Tonan?" Mira asked.

"I'll explain it later," Lucy said before Kari could get anything in.

The ladies all talked while the men were *this* close from a fight - the only thing stopping them was Erza's presence in the guild. Well, it stopped most of them. Erza had to leave the conversation every now and then to separate Natsu and Gray.

"How did you meet Natsu?" Mira asked.

"You could say we grew up together for a time," she said with a shrug. Then she nodded. "Natsu, my answer is yes!" He whooped. It took a while for Natsu to realize from the men's conversation that they thought he had gotten engaged. He started laughing.

"Kari," he wheezed, "Kari, they thought… They thought I had proposed to you!" She started laughing with him.

"Marry? You? Ew! That's disgusting." A few moments later she said, "Natsu, did you not tell them?"

"No, I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Ugh. Natsu give me your scarf."

"What? No. It's mine."

"Let me borrow it. It'll be funny."

"That's a bad idea," Elfman started. She ignored him and pulled Natsu's scarf off. He pulled back. She clobbered him. Everyone gasped. "Bad idea," he said again.

Wrapping the scarf around her neck, she pulled the head scarf off. Everyone stared.

Natsu sat up and rubbed his head. "Yeah, the secret's out. I have a sister." Their eyes went from Kari to Natsu then back to Kari.

Makarov summed it up when he exclaimed, "Oh, crap, there's two of them!" They all laughed while Kari put Natsu in a headlock.

"I haven't even been here a single day and I already have a reputation! Natsu, I'm going to beat the crap out of you!"

"Erza!" he yelped. "Save me!"

"Don't interfere," Kari growled.

"You're on your own," Erza said with a smile.

"Erza!" he wailed.

Kari let him out of the headlock. Despite the rough start, she fit in pretty well.

"Where do you want your guild mark, and what color?" Mira asked.

"Well," Kari mused. "I could get it in the same place and color as Gray."

"NO" was Natsu's immediate reply.

"You don't have a choice in this," Kari yelled. "I'm just kidding. Same as Natsu's."

"Ok," Mira said with a chuckle.

* * *

**So the explosion wasn't that bad, and now Fairy Tail has two Fire Dragon Slayers by the name of Dragneel. And yes, I am fully aware of what is happening in the manga, and it will be included. It'll be complicated, but I'll work it in. Review please!**


	12. Chapter 12: A Peek Into Her Past

"Is this really your house?" Kari asked, glancing around.

"Yeah, what wrong with it?" he responded defensively.

"Nothing, except…" Kari began to giggle. "Natsu, it looks like a storm just happened; it's a wreck!" Natsu looked around his house.

"I guess it does," he conceded.

"Come on, doofus," she said. "Clean up time."

"No!" he yelled, running out of the house. Kari chased him down and pulled him back into the house.

"We are cleaning," she told him firmly.

"Gah! I hate girls. Neat freaks."

"Shut up, Natsu."

"Or else what?"

"I'll clobber you into tomorrow."

"Uh… Fine." That afternoon found Kari picking up Natsu's various thrown around clothes and Natsu scrubbing the windows outside.

"Natsu, what's the deal with all of the plates and bowls under your hammock?"

"I get hungry at night." Kari sighed.

"You amaze me sometimes, Natsu. Ow!" Natsu poked his head inside.

"Are you ok?" he called anxiously.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We're going to have to nail down this floorboard; I tripped over it." Wait a second. Her sharp eyes could tell that the floorboard had been lifted multiple times. A hiding place? Pulling the plank up completely, Kari retrieved a box from the inside. Upon opening it, the first thing she saw was a paper saying '_Gray, I'm gonna kill you first chance I get_'. She chuckled to herself. Pulling the paper out, she saw a variety of items in the box. There was a bad painting of everyone in the guild. Gray - much to Kari's embarrassment - wasn't even wearing his boxers. To her sadness, there was a little dragon charm that she had gotten him for their third birthday. She had begged their father for the two-hundred Jewel required to buy it when they had gone out to town together. It had been the most money she had ever held. She had felt a little bit of regret giving it up for the charm, but the look of pure delight on his face when he saw it was totally worth it. He never put it down, and must have know, even with amnesia, that this was precious to him. Odd shaped rocks and chunks of wood cluttered the rest of the box - wait, there was a smaller box, about four inches long and one-and-a-half inches wide. She had just opened it when it was snatched out of her hands. Natsu had taken it with a look of anger that she had rarely seen.

"What are you doing?" he growled. Kari would have to be careful to not look him in the eyes. For a long time, all that Natsu knew was dragons. She, at least, had had the good fortune to be raised by humans - and remember it - for while. As a result, Natsu had more animal-like tendencies. Being in Fairy Tail had dampened it, but it was still there; a raging fire dragon determined to get loose. It had scared her more than once.

"You really should nail down that floorboard," she deadpanned, hoping that the comment would defuse him. It didn't work. He gave her another glare, then bent down and began putting the things back. "Natsu," she said hesitantly. He ignored her. "Natsu." She had seen the contents of the small box. "Hey. Look at me." He paused, shivered, and then went back to his work. "Those were wedding rings. Mom has her's, and Mina was never married." Natsu swiped at his face. "Natsu, please look at me." Kari gently took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead, grief filling her chest. "You got married while I was gone, didn't you?" He didn't have to say anything. Kari held him for a long time that evening.

* * *

It was a little disconcerting having two Dragneels. Everyone was sure that Kari would prove to be as destructive as her brother. She proved them all wrong. Physically, they were almost identical. Mentally, however, they were polar opposites. Kari was very intelligent and an avid reader, while Natsu was… well… not. She preferred diplomacy when possible, while he greatly preferred a fight; any day, any time. She enjoyed certain kinds of alcohol, whereas Natsu considered it the liquid from hell.

On the other hand, they were identical in other aspects of life. They both loved eating fire, and would often oblige each other by making mini explosions. They dressed eerily alike, though Kari, instead of a vest, wore a button up very similar in style to Natsu's vest. It was funny watching them, because, though inseparable, they did get into little family spats.

"Fight me!"

"No, I think I'll fight you instead."

"But… but… What?" Kari would often confuse Natsu like this in order to prevent a fight. While she was a very capable fighter, she wasn't often in the mood to fight. When she was, she went on a job that involved beating something up. Natsu couldn't understand her very well, but he adored her anyway.

"So let me get this straight," Macao said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You sent yourself back in time three hundred years, stayed in that time period for ten years, then came back to this time period, and you and Natsu are still the same age, down to the day?"

"Uh-huh," Kari nodded eagerly. "Down to the minute, actually. Right on track, except seven years behind."

"Wow," he said. "You two are something." Kari grinned.

"That's why we're awesome."

"Yeah, right," Gray scoffed. He had taken to fighting with both Dragneels very quickly. Natsu launched himself at Gray.

"Erza!" Kari yelled. "We need to take the babies on another job!"

"Hey!" they both shouted.

* * *

"Kari, let me look at it."

"No!" she snarled, holding her wounded shoulder. A lucky arrow had found a tiny chink in Kari's Fate Armor. She had pulled it out and continued fighting, but now was refusing to let anyone look at it.

"Kari," Natsu said patiently. "You're bleeding a lot; someone needs to look at it."

"No!" she insisted. "I'm fine, I can take care of it myself." Kari yelped when Gray's ice froze around her feet, holding her in place. She was quick to melt it, but Natsu was faster and grabbed her around the waist. "Let me go!" she shouted, battering at his arms as he struggled to seat her so he could look at the wound.

"No," he told her calmly. "Sit still so I can look at it."

"No!" she shrieked, squirming more furiously than before.

"Why don't you want me to look at it?" Natsu asked, finally losing his patience.

"Because," she snapped. "It's weird."

"How in the world is it weird?" he said. "You dragged me along bathing-suit shopping just a few days ago."

"Correction: Mira dragged you along. It doesn't matter anyway."

"Kari," he warned. "Sit still so I can look at it, or I'll have Gray freeze you again." Kari stopped struggling and just sobbed instead. Natsu revealed her shoulder and cauterized the wound. "What?" he asked softly, revealing guild marks on her back. There were twelve of them, in three neat rows. "Kari?" he asked. "Why do you have these?"

She was sobbing uncontrollably. "I didn't want you to see them," she cried.

Natsu remembered what he had heard from the tour guide at that museum exhibit several weeks ago._ "...rumors at the time said that dark guild after guild destroyed each other for her and forced her to join their own guild… chain broke during her time in her twelfth guild…"_

"These are your old guild marks," he realized. Kari nodded, ashamed. "If you hate them so much, and- and you're so ashamed of them, why don't you get rid of them?" He dried her tears with his scarf as she slowly began to calm down.

"It was a mixture of things," she sniffled. "Part of it - a very small part - was that it was my history. Ten years worth of history. My history. The rest…" She started crying again.

"Hey," Natsu soothed. "Hey. It's ok. What is the rest?" Kari looked away and mumbled something. "What?"

"I can't get rid of them," she said quietly. "Never."

"I don't understand," Gray said. "What do you mean, you can't get rid of them? Everyone can get rid of their guild marks." Kari gave him an irritated look.

"Removable guild marks only came into play two hundred years ago," she murmured. "Back when I was, you could get them on, but not off. It's why guilds were so small back then."

"Couldn't you find a way to get them off now?" Happy asked. Kari shook her head.

"Believe me, I've been searching. I hated all eleven of those guilds." Gray frowned.

"You have twelve guild marks on your back," he pointed out. Kari looked away.

"Eleven of them were dark guilds," she explained quietly. "My first guild was a legal guild. Crimson Dragon. It got destroyed. I… I was the only one left, and that was because I was fire-proof."

"What happened?" Happy asked.

"There was… a certain mage. We knew that he had magic, because there was always a magic circle. But… there was nothing visible. By the time I joined, he had been there for about a year, I guess. It turns out, his magic was a rare kind that goes in pair with a fire mage." She stopped and sighed, then continued. "His magic was an explosive gas. It couldn't be smelled, tasted, or seen. But it was highly flammable, and the guild was full of it. And… one day… shortly after I joined… We were showing off our magic. I was the only fire mage. I just lit my hand on fire, and… boom. The guild blew up. Everyone died, and it was _my_ fault."

"It's not your fault, Kari," Natsu said. "Don't be ridiculous. It was an accident. You had no way of knowing about the gas." She stared at him.

"Do you really think so?' she asked hopefully.

He nodded with a grin. "Of course. You aren't a killer." She looked away from him at that. The less he knew about all the blood on her hands, the better. "Now, we better find the girls before Erza tracks us down and kills us."

"I'm not a girl?" Kari weakly joked. Natsu looked at her with a light smile. He gently knocked his head against hers.

"You are anything but a girl," he said, then grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

* * *

"Hey," Lucy said to Natsu. "Are you ok?" He was resting with his head on a table. Surprisingly, Kari wasn't with him. She needed 'alone time' and had gone a long job.

"Yeah, I just feel tired and cold," he replied while Lucy pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. She yelped in surprise. He felt like he was on fire.

"You should go lie down," she advised. "It seems like you have a little bug." He nodded and went home.

Later that evening, while Lucy was writing, she heard a rapping on her window. She sighed. It was probably Happy. She opened the window and let the Exceed in.

"Before you start jabbering," Lucy said sternly, "yes, I know that Natsu has a bug, and yes, he's going to be fine. Now, what is it?"

"He's really sick," the worried cat said. "It's not a bug or something," he added, seeing that she was about to kick him out for bothering her. "I haven't seen him this sick since… since Meliera went missing." Remembering what Mira had said about Natsu then, she could see why Happy was so worried.

"How was Natsu when you left?" Lucy asked, hurrying to his house.

"He was burning up," Happy responded anxiously. "But he kept saying that he was cold. Natsu never gets cold!"

"I know, I know. Have you tried contacting Kari?" Kari had given Natsu a communication Lacrima that connected to one of her own, allowing him to contact her whenever necessary.

"Aye. She's busy and couldn't pick it up." _Who fights at nine in the evening?_ She froze when she saw Natsu standing in the doorframe of his house.

"Lucy?" he asked, his face pale.

"Natsu," she scolded him gently. "You should be in bed."

He didn't seem to hear her. "I don't feel so good." Having said that, he promptly passed out. Lucy barely caught him in time. She carried him inside, and with a struggle, managed to get him in his hammock. Natsu hadn't been in there for ten seconds when he leaned over the side and vomited. The hammock overbalanced and he fell out. Right into the puddle that had been his dinner. Lucy gingerly cleaned him and the floor, then got a bowl for him to vomit into. It was a good thing she did; he threw up two more times before collapsing in a sweaty, shaking heap.

_What is Kari doing and why isn't she picking up?_ Lucy wondered after another unsuccessful call.

* * *

"Blasted dark guild," Kari muttered. Natsu had been calling her, and she was about to answer, but an enemy mage had made her drop it, causing it to shatter. She was currently trying to enchant another Lacrima to connect with Natsu's and was having trouble getting through the safeguards that she had set up. "Blasted Lacrima. Oh, blast it all."

Of course, it couldn't be anything serious. Natsu could have just been calling to check on her, which he tended to do. _Probably nothing,_ she assured herself.

But she couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that it wasn't.

* * *

**So Kari found out about Meliera - at lease partially - and we got a look into Kari's past. Don't worry, we'll go into that in more detail later. Oh, and now Natsu is sick. Is it just me, or is it not exactly a normal sickness? Tomorrow, you will see my theory on who Natsu and Kari's mother is. Why now? Because I can't wait to see your reactions. Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13: Family Matters

Lucy watched Natsu. She had wrapped him up in some blankets after taking him to her house. He was currently resting in her bed. He was still sweating hard. Lucy felt a bit worried that he would become dehydrated at the rate he was sweating.

"Go get Mira," she had told Happy fifteen minutes ago, when Natsu had shown no sign of waking up anytime soon. This wasn't good. Now she was anxiously waiting for Mira to arrive. There was a knock on the door. Lucy threw it open to reveal Happy, Mira, and Lisanna.

"We thought that four might be better than three," Mira explained. "How's he doing?"

Lucy shook her head. "He hasn't woken up. Not really. He only wakes up enough to vomit again."

"What's his temperature?" Mira asked. Lucy shrugged.

"My thermometer keeps maxing out," she said.

"Did you try a kitchen thermometer?"

"Uh… no. That didn't occur to me."

Mira fetched Lucy's kitchen thermometer. After a minute or so, she removed it from Natsu's mouth.

"One forty-seven," she announced.

"That's normal, right?" Lucy asked. "Please tell me it's normal."

"He's usually, what, one fifteen? One twenty?"

Lucy had to sit. Natsu was almost thirty degrees over average.

"Have you called Kari yet?" Lisanna asked. Lucy nodded.

"She won't answer." At that moment, the Lacrima started glowing and buzzing, startling them all. Mira quickly picked it up and answered the call.

"Hello, Nat- Mira? What are you doing at my house?"

"We're at Lucy's house," Mira clarified.

"We?"

"Lucy, Happy, Lisanna, Natsu, and I."

"Why are you all over there?"

Mira took a deep breath. "Natsu's sick. Really sick." Kari grimaced.

"Symptoms?"

"High fever, excessive sweating, vomiting -"

"Mom!" Natsu moaned.

"And now calling for your mother," she finished. Kari sighed.

"I'll be there as soon as possible," she promised. "Unfortunately, that won't be for at least two days. I'll see you guys then." The Lacrima shut itself off.

"Mom…" Natsu moaned again. "No… Run… No, _Mom!_"

* * *

They moved him to the guild in the morning, so that they could treat him better. He was delirious the entire time, constantly calling for his mother, asking her to run.

"Do any of you know about Mrs. Dragneel?" Makarov asked Natsu's team. Erza shook her head.

"All we know about her is that she was in a guild, and her guild didn't know about her marriage. She wasn't home very often either."

Makarov pondered for a moment. "So, Kari and Natsu are the only people who know who she is?"

Erza shrugged. "Natsu said that he still didn't remember her. He remembered her presence, but that was about it."

"He was four the last time he saw her," the guild master conceded.

"Where is he?" Kari demanded, storming in.

"You said you wouldn't be here for a couple days!" Mira exclaimed.

"I… convinced the people running the trains not to make any stops." Lucy sighed. Kari was a bad mixture of Erza and Natsu.

"Did it involve your Fate sword, by any chance?" Gray asked. Kari shrugged.

"Maybe. Where is he?" They led her into the back room. She rushed to him and checked him over. After she whispered in his ear, his eyes opened slightly.

"Kari?" he asked softly. When she smiled and nodded, he asked, "What's wrong with me?"

Kari laughed softly. "Oh, many things. You know, being crazy, and destroying just about everything you touch, and -"

"Very funny," Natsu muttered. "Why am I feeling like this?" Kari just smoothed the hair from his face.

"It's complicated. Just go to sleep; I'll explain it when you wake up." He nodded and closed his eyes. The cheerful expression slid from Kari's face to be replaced by one of… pain?

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" Lucy asked. Kari closed her eyes and nodded.

"Don't worry, it's not contagious. If it were, the entire world would probably be dead."

"What!" Lucy yelped. "What in the world could be that deadly?"

Kari gave a dry laugh. "It's a rare disease that's passed down from parent to child. The reason it isn't more widespread is because… Well, it's complicated, and you probably wouldn't understand. I'm still researching it. But… what it does is cause a high fever, and all the other symptoms you were describing."

"Can it be cured?" Erza demanded. Kari glared at her.

"Do you really think I wouldn't be trying to cure him if there was? It doesn't have a cure." A deadly silence fell over the room.

"But we cured him before!" Mira protested. Kari shook her head.

"If there is a dark guild causing trouble, and you kept crushing their attempts without arresting them, is the problem going to go away?" she asked, rubbing her forehead. The others glanced at each other, then shook their heads. "The disease is the same way. You can cure the symptoms, but the problem never goes away. He'll have these attacks for the rest of his life."

"Attacks?" Happy asked with a wobbly mouth. The Dragon Slayer nodded.

"But," Kari added thoughtfully, "there is something that might pull him out of this attack. It's a rare plant that grows about a week's journey north from here. It may do the trick."

"What's the catch?" Gray asked, seeing the look on her face.

"Natsu doesn't have the two weeks it'll take to retrieve the plant."

"He's _dying_?" everyone gasped. Kari nodded sadly.

"I can keep him alive for a week, a week and a half at the most."

"Then we'll be fast," Erza said determinedly.

"Then go!" Kari yelled. As they scurried off, it occurred to Lucy just how much Kari was like Porlyusica.

* * *

"There are Fairy Tail mages coming," a young woman observed to Porlyusica. She didn't ask how the woman knew; she was strange like that.

"Tell them to go away," Porlyusica snapped. The woman barked out a laugh.

"I can't do that," she chuckled. "I'm dead."

"You can still talk to people," Porlyusica said. "You're talking to me."

"Yes, because you're interesting." The woman inspected her nails. "Do you know why they're coming?"

"No, and I don't care." Porlyusica continued reorganizing her potions.

"Dragneel is dying." She froze for a moment, then continued with her work. "I knew that would shake you up," she chuckled.

"Which one?" Porlyusica asked with an indifferent tone.

"The boy."

"Why?"

"You know why. You've treated him before." Porlyusica closed her eyes and remembered a three year old boy with pink hair struggling for his life against a disease that could never be cured. The worried look on his father's face.

"How's your husband?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Very funny."

"You're rude."

"I have your pleasant company to thank for that."

Porlyusica composed herself and resumed her work. "I'm not going to treat Dragneel." The woman stared at her in anger.

"What do you mean, you won't?" she asked.

"I meant what I said; now stop bothering me." The woman stood, shaking with rage.

"Porlyusica Dragneel, don't you dare let your son die!"

* * *

**Dun Dun Duh! The revelation of who their mother is! Please review and tell me what you think!**


	14. Chapter 14: Bye, Mom Hi, Dad

**What did you guys think of that? Haha, man, I'm still laughing. Oh, we'll be going into Natsu's point of view for what happened the night most of his family died.**

* * *

Porlyusica sighed and turned. "How did you know?" she asked. The other woman shrugged, though still angry.

"The pink hair kind of gives it away."

"Hmph. Does anyone else know?"

"Other than your children? I don't know. You better hope not. Now, you have the choice - Let your son die, and be forever separated from your daughter, as well as keep your solitude for a few more days, or heal him. You choose." Porlyusica sighed. They both knew which option she would choose.

* * *

"How much farther?" Happy asked. Erza checked the map.

"Uh… five more miles." Gray groaned.

"We've already gone twenty-five miles today," he complained. "Couldn't we stop for the night? My feet are killing me." Erza was already shaking her head.

"It's been three days," she said firmly. "Natsu doesn't have that much longer. We need to cover as much ground as possible." Erza had been driving them furiously since day one.

Day four had been wasted getting the exact location of the plant. Day five through seven were spent hiking through the mountains, retrieving the plant, and leaving the mountains.

"We don't have that much time left," Lucy said, worried. "We still need five more days to get back."

"We don't have five days," Gray snapped, feeling irritable. Then he got an idea. "Happy, just how fast can you fly?" Happy grinned as he understood what the ice mage was talking about.

"I won't stop until I drop," the cat vowed, grabbing the plant and flying in the direction of Magnolia.

"Are you sure this will work?" Lucy asked. Erza sighed.

"It will have to," she said. "Otherwise Natsu is lost to us."

* * *

"I didn't know that you guys had a healer," Kari observed after meeting Porlyusica. "Nice to meet you, Madam…?"

"The name's Porlyusica," the elderly healer snapped. "No need for this 'Madam' stuff."

"Yes, ma'am," Kari grinned dutifully. She hadn't smiled since she heard that Natsu was sick, so she must be feeling better.

Later that evening, after everyone else had left the guild for the night, Porlyusica sighed and touched Natsu's burning face. Despite her best efforts, his fever was getting worse.

Kari knocked lightly on the doorframe. "Mom?" she said. "I'll look after him for a bit if you want to get some coffee or something." Kari, during her four lonesome years being the 'Salamander', had often stayed with her mother, talking and informing her on outside news. Amusingly, both thought that the human race as a whole was most likely doomed, but Kari thought that there was still a glimmer of hope.

"No, I'm fine here," she said. Turning back to Natsu, she stroked his face like she used to do when he was a child. His fevered skin almost burned her hand. This kind of fever for him was very, very bad. He shifted a little in his sleep and muttered, "Mom…" Porlyusica pulled back a bit in surprise. Kari was next to her in a flash.

"He's been calling for you constantly," Kari sighed, rubbing her arms. "I don't know why."

"His fevered brain," Porlyusica asserted practically.

"Natsu doesn't remember you," Kari shot back. "He remembers you being home with us and that's about it."

She looked back at her son as Kari pressed ice to his forehead to soothe his fevered dreams. She was almost glad that he didn't remember her. What do you say to a son that you haven't seen as your son for twenty-one years?

* * *

_Natsu slowly woke up. Momma was carrying him. She was running. It was dark outside, but he could tell that they were in the forest. "Momma?" he asked. "Where are we going?" He was cold. He wasn't wearing a shirt; just the brown pants he slept in. As he shivered, Momma wrapped the blanket more snuggly around him. "What's wrong?" She gently set him down and knelt so they were eye to eye._

_ "Darling," she said hesitantly. He could see the fear in her eyes and it scared him. What could be out there that could scare Momma? "There are bad men after us. After you."_

_ "Why?" he whimpered._

_ "It's complicated," she said after hesitating for a moment. Natsu hated when older people said that. Yes, he was four, and yes, Kari - remembering her made him hurt inside - had been smarter than him, but he could understand. _

_ There was a commotion behind them. Momma threw a glance over her shoulder, then scooped Natsu up in her arms and ran._

_ "There they are!" Natsu didn't know who they were, but if Momma was running from them, they must be bad. "Get them!" Mother and son ran for several more minutes, gaining more and more distance between them. Momma suddenly fell with a cry, dropping him. Natsu yelped as he hit the ground roughly. Momma was holding her ankle, her face twisted in pain._

_ "Natsu, baby," she said, pulling him close. "You need to run. Go."_

_ "What about you?" he asked. If these were bad men, then they might hurt Momma._

_ "I'll be fine; I promise," she whispered, kissing his face and wiping away his tears. "Now, go. Go." He started running, crying hard. He could hear the men interrogating Momma, and how she was refusing to answer._

_ "He went this way," a tracker yelled. They were after him._

_ "Natsu, run!" Momma screamed._

_ Natsu couldn't see anything in the dark. There were tears blurring his vision, which made seeing where he was going even harder. He didn't see the dried creek bed full of rocks rapidly approaching him. Natsu fell, hitting his head hard against a rock. He was immediately knocked out, and rolled under the bank. The trackers never could find him._

_ His eyes opened. Where was he? Who was he? __**Natsu**__, he thought. __**My name is Natsu… Dragneel.**__ But where was he? He couldn't remember anything. __**Momma!**__ he thought frantically, but then thought, __**Who's Momma? I don't know.**__ Fear filled him as he desperately tried to remember something, anything. But he couldn't._

_ Natsu froze. He had been walking aimlessly for about an hour, and now there was this… creature. He had no idea what it was. It was big. And red._

* * *

_ One giant eye lazily cracked open. __**What is the world is that hatchling doing?**__ Igneel wondered. It seemed very young. Did humans let their hatchlings roam alone at this age? He didn't know. It watched him carefully._

_ Well? Igneel asked, still slightly annoyed at his sunbathing being interrupted. The hatchling stepped back in alarm. Yet there was none of the fear that was usually present when humans saw Igneel. It was rather… curiosity. __**It has no idea what I am**__, Igneel realized. What is your name? he asked._

_ "Natsu," it said timidly. "Natsu Dragneel." Now, the question was if this 'Natsu' was a male, or a female. Igneel decided that until he knew for sure, it was a male._

_ Where are your parents? he asked._

_ "I… I don't know. I just woke up an hour ago and… I… I can't remember… and…" To Igneel's alarm, the hatching burst into tears. He had no idea how to comfort a child - Kari had rarely cried -, so he just said awkwardly, Don't cry, hatchling. Natsu looked up at him in surprise. The waterworks stopped. _

_You… may stay with me until we find your parents. It was unlikely that they would ever find the hatchling's parents, but it seemed to console it. After a few moments, Igneel realized with further alarm that the hatchling had fallen asleep on him. __**What in the world do I do with it?**__ he wondered, gingerly lifting the paw that had the child on it. __**If I have to rely on my knowledge of humans, hatchlings, and human hatchlings, **__he thought with horror, __**I'm doomed.**_

* * *

**Poor Igneel.**


	15. Chapter 15: GMG Begin!

**About the chapter before last... HAHA MAN I WISH I COULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOKS ON YOUR FACES.** ***wipes tears away* Oh, man, I'm gonna kill myself laughing at this.**

* * *

Erza, Gray, and Lucy walked into the guildhall, exhausted. The place was quiet. Way too quiet. _Was Happy too late?_ Lucy wondered. Erza feared the same thing.

"Did Happy get here?" she demanded. Levy nodded.

"Two days ago," she said. "Porlyusica and Kari have been working on him nonstop since. But…" Levy started to cry. "Kari's been crying for the past five minutes and she won't let anyone in." Hearing this, Erza shoved her aside and stormed into the infirmary. Porlyusica was staring stonily at Natsu, and Kari was sobbing at his bed.

"He's not…" Erza whispered, tears filling her eyes. _Not now! Not when we've tried so hard to save you!_

Kari looked up, a beatific smile gracing her face. "The fever broke," she smiled through her tears of joy. "He's sleeping normally." The girls both began crying tears of joy like Kari, while Gray rushed out shouting the news. The guild reacted as Lucy expected them to.

Porlyusica shooed them out a few moments later, saying that he needed his rest. Everyone was talking animatedly, happy for Natsu's recovery. Even Gajeel showed his relief in his own way.

"The Salamander's gonna recover?" he asked gruffly. When given an affirmative, he chuckled, "When he gets out of there, I'm gonna send him back for worrying Levy."

* * *

"Natsu, you shouldn't be up," Kari scolded as her brother struggled out of bed.

"I'm fine," he protested, even as Kari helped him regain his feet. "I've been up and about earlier than this with worse wounds."

"Says the man who can't even walk by himself," Kari snorted. "And wounds are very different from diseases that sap the life out of you." Natsu just growled at her.

"Could I at least go out into the main room?" he pleaded, giving Kari the look that usually gave him what he wanted. He knew how to twist Kari around his finger, but then again, so did she. At first she said 'no', he wheedled, she wavered, he wheedled a bit more, and she gave in.

Kari had to pull him away from Gray and Gajeel, since the three of them were determined to fight. She knew how to imitate Erza to the degree that Gray feared her, but Gajeel had been a bit harder. It hadn't been too hard. She only had to soundly thrash him twice.

By close to the end of the day, Kari had deemed that Natsu had recovered enough to leave on an errand that he was insisting that he had to do.

"Are you sure?" Erza asked doubtfully. Kari just chuckled.

"Don't underestimate the healing abilities of a Dragon Slayer," she said. "He'll be fine."

* * *

Porlyusica was sweeping her porch when she felt someone watching her. Turning, she saw that it was Natsu.

"What do you want?" she snapped. Her instincts were noting that he needed to be in bed resting, not running around.

"I wanted to say 'Thank you'," he said softly. Wind whipped his scarf into his face. His eyes never left hers, and he didn't move.

"Well, you've said it; now leave." She turned and continued sweeping. She opened the door, about to go in.

"Thank you… Mom." She froze in the doorway.

"What did you call me?" she asked, not facing him. She feared that she might lose her shaky hold on her emotions.

"Mom," he said. She could hear the smile in his voice. "I remember… everything. I remember every one of your visits." He swallowed. "I remember that night." He was suddenly right behind her, waiting for her to turn. "I missed you." His voice broke a little.

Finally letting her emotions overcome her, she turned and hugged him tightly. She had missed her son so much. Though surprised, Natsu hugged her quickly in return.

* * *

"I'm fine," Natsu was insisting to Kari. "I can do the Grand Magic Games just as much as the Popsicle can." Kari was doubtful.

"You are still technically recovering," she said. "And I won't be able to help you."

"What do you mean?" Lisanna asked, surprised. "You aren't going to participate?" Kari grinned.

"I am," she said. "Just not with Fairy Tail."

"WHAT?!" Natsu exclaimed, angry. "Why not? You better not be competing with another guild. I'll kick their a-"

"Natsu!" she scolded. She had been trying to get him to stop swearing. "I want to test myself," she then explained calmly. "I can't do that if I'm playing with Fairy Tail." _She _is_ a Dragneel,_ Lucy thought after recovering from Kari calling it 'playing'.

"You can't be your own team," Lisanna continued to object. "Every team needs at least five members."

Kari gave her a look. "I'm sure that the Salamander can convince the rule makers otherwise." Natsu began laughing. Nobody outside the guild and Storande knew of Kari's double life. The Salamander still made appearances - it would be suspicious if she didn't - but not as often. Kari was enjoying her new guild too much to go terrorizing dark guilds.

"I won't go easy on you because you're my sister," Natsu warned. Kari gave him a feral grin.

"Dude," she laughed. "You should go ahead and start begging for mercy." As the twins argued over which one of them would win in a full on fight between them, Lucy reviewed her options. If she was going to be in the games, then she was going to have to get a lot stronger.

* * *

"The preliminaries will reduce the one-hundred and fourteen guilds to nine," the pumpkin-man-thing announced. Kari looked around in surprise. She hadn't been aware that there were that many guilds in Friore, but she took comfort in that she was one of them. "You will have to complete the Sky Labyrinth. The first nine guilds to reach the finish will compete in the Grand Magic Games!" _Oh, crap._ This was going to be hard. Of course, chances were that they were mostly weak guilds trying to prove themselves. They would be easy to defeat.

'Accidentally' beating the ever living daylights out of Twilight Ogre and Quatro Cerberus, - while she had nothing against the latter, they were getting in the Salamander's way. Probably trying to prove themselves. Twilight Ogre, on the other hand… they were different. After defeating them, she continued running the maze.

Everyone had been shocked to discover that the Salamander was, in fact, part of a guild. Crimson Dragon. She had to smile. Crimson Dragon had been her very first guild, and she had never stopped loving it. Fairy Tail made her happy because it was so much like it. The runners of the games had been doubtful, but - reluctantly - she had shown them her guild mark. Even then, they had insisted that Crimson Dragon had been either destroyed or disbanded three hundred years ago. Kari had told them the lie that she and Levy had created in case of that. Crimson Dragon, had actually been in hiding ever since then. But, because of being in hiding their numbers had dwindled until there were only two left. The Salamander and her master. The rules, of course, prevented the master from participating in the games, so only the Salamander could participate. They had protested. Kari had pulled out her sword and sharpened it for a bit. The runners had suddenly decided to forgo the rule saying that each team had to have five members. She couldn't imagine why.

To Kari's annoyance, Sabertooth finished in first, while she had finished in second. However, Fairy Tail had finished in ninth. _At least they didn't get disqualified,_ she reasoned. Kari grinned. Now she would be able to tease Natsu about this. Getting ninth. Pfft.

Sting Eucliffe. Rogue Cheney. Kari would have to be careful around them. She sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose in the comfort of the lodging provided for Fairy Tail, where she was visiting. The three of them had… some 'history' together. Involving her Fate sword and their magic. She pushed it from her mind. The games would get messy if she brooded on it.

She had been surprised upon seeing Fairy Tail Team B. She hadn't been expecting the master to pull this. Of course, this meant more competition, but at least she knew more of her enemies.

"We would've gotten second if it weren't for you," Gajeel fumed at Kari. She picked her teeth with her Fate sword, which was in the form of a small knife. Flicking the annoying piece of whatever it was that had been in there since lunch in Laxus' direction, she turned her attention to the other Dragon Slayer. Laxus yelled at her in annoyance after pulling it out of his hair.

"My, my, Gajeel, is that jealousy I'm detecting?" she teased. Natsu shifted under her as Gajeel turned red and stormed off. He never minded too much when she used him as a chair.

"No flirting," Natsu warned. Dang it, he was protective. Kari wasn't sure if she liked it or not. _It has a time and place,_ she decided.

"I can flirt if I want to," Kari chuckled. "But trust me, I have no interest in Gajeel. I'll leave him for Levy here."

"What!" Levy blushed. The female Dragon Slayer just chuckled again.

"Tomorrow will be interesting," Kari said under her breath to Natsu. "I can feel it."

* * *

**Uh-oh. What's Kari's past with the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth? Will they find out her identity? What will happen? *dramatic evil laugh* Ok, review please!**


	16. Chapter 16: GMG Day One

**I've been frantically writing because I'm doing a mass update on my birthday, which is in a few days. Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

**Hidden**, Kari decided, was annoying. There were eight other opponents, as well as clones of everyone. She cursed under her breath she encountered herself. Her armor was freaky looking, which she did on purpose. Her sharp sense of smell told her where everyone was, thus earning Crimson Dragon several points. Was it cheating? Nah.

Her enemies? Gray of Fairy Tail Team A; Juvia of Fairy Tail Team B; Beth of Mermaid Heel; Nullpudding of Raven Tail; Eve of Blue Pegasus; Lyon of Lamina Scale; Jäger of Quatro Cerberus; and Rufus of Sabertooth. Kari made it a point to go after Nullpudding, since he was making it a point of going after Fairy Tail.

Sabertooth was in the lead after Rufus pulled a move that defeated everyone except Kari, putting him in the lead. She tried to take him down, but before she could land more than three blows, time was called. Still, it was clear that she was more than his match, which pleased her.

_It's ironic,_ she reflected,_ that the least popular guild - Fairy Tail - contains one of the most favored, if not loved, mages in the games - me._

The battle segments were next. _Lovely._ Kari watched with silent anger as Lucy was beaten to a pulp by Flare.

"What do you think?" Ivan Dreyar asked from just behind her.

"I think that it is unnecessary," she responded flatly. She had known that he was behind her, but made no move until he spoke. Ivan laughed softly. "So which one is really you?" she asked. He started in surprise. "Yes, I know your dirty little secret. If you're nice to me, I won't tell. Yet."

"That one," Ivan said with annoyance, pointing at 'Alexei'.

"Ah. Now, if you will excuse me, I have an event to prepare for." She could feel Ivan's eyes burning into her back. Oh, it was good to show up a Dreyar, even if it was the outlaw one.

* * *

After 'Mystogan's' rather humiliating defeat, it was Kari's turn. "Since we have decided to have an uneven amount of teams this year - just to mix things up -, the final battle segment will be between the Salamander and an S-class monster!" The roar of approval was very pleasant to hear. Kari gave a regal wave as she walked out into the stadium. This was going to be fun.

The creature was purple and twice as tall as she was. It roared furiously at her, pleased at finally being able to fight something. Kari pulled out her Fate sword and changed it to a larger blade. Breathe it. Breathe out. _You've killed tons of S-class monsters before. Why are you so nervous?_ Inhale. Exhale. Study it. Small eyes, large ears and nose. Must rely on sound and smell to find its way around. Smell, she couldn't do much about. But maybe she could overwhelm its sense of sound…

Heavily armored torso, legs, and arms. Sharp spikes and horns. Could be dangerous. The face - er, faces; it had two heads - was defenceless. Ok. Getting to its faces, however, would be difficult. Magic or no? Let's try no magic. This was going to be awesome.

* * *

Natsu eagerly watched Kari stalk the monster. It was well known that the Salamander was easily on par with an official S-class wizard, thought Kari refused the offer of S-class.

"I won't be S-class till Natsu does," she had said with a small smile. "I've spent enough of my life above everyone else. I want to savor being a least a little normal." Then Gray had made a snarky remark about having to wait for a long time to be S-class, and the moment was gone and the 'Dragneel Rebellion' kicked Gray's stupid butt.

The suspense was killing him. She slowly drew her sword and settled into a battle stance. Her Fate armor gave a bright light and turned into something not quite as heavy as her normal armor.

"Is your Fate armor like Erza's requiping?" Natsu asked during a brief training bout a few days ago. She had burst out laughing and shook her head.

"What makes Fate armor special," she explained, "is that it molds itself to fit its owner's needs. It can appear as normal clothes for undercover missions, or fearsome battle armor to frighten enemies."

"Cool!" Natsu had said. "You said a while ago that if something happened to you, I would get the Fate armor. How does that work?"

"Fate armor bonds to its owner, and only those who are bonded to it can use it. The owner can make it bond with someone else, which is what I did with you. So we can both use it." _I wonder what it would be like to fight in that armor,_ Natsu mused as Kari leaped at the monster. He leaned forward in excitement. It was finally starting!

Kari was amazing. She had Erza's finesse with swords, and awesome control of her fire, combining to make the S-class monster pity its very existence. After fifteen minutes - though it was obvious that she was dragging it out for the crowd - she took off both heads with a single stroke.

"Wow," Wendy whimpered. "I really hope that I don't have to fight her."

"Yeah…" Gray nervously agreed. "Your sister is scary, Ash Face." The guild began to take bets on who would win in a fight: Kari or Erza. It was slightly horrifying to imagine.

"We'll have to evacuate the city," Laxus noted. Makarov passed out at the thought of all the bills he would get.

* * *

Kari stretched. It was evening, and she was exhausted. Of course, there had been a tiny *cough* humongous *cough* fight, so she had gone on a walk. She closed her eyes and sighed as the warm air ran through her hair. She wasn't hot, despite the fact it was at least eighty degrees and she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. Kari inhaled, tasting the city. She prefered the forest smell - rather, that of a burning forest - but the city had interesting smells. She frowned. That was not a good smell this close. It was never a good smell period.

"Hey, pretty lady," one of the fifteen men said. "How about we have some fun?" Kari grunted in surprise and pulled out her Fate sword. Unfortunately, she had left her armor with Natsu so she could relax, but she always had her Fate sword with her.

Pain exploded through her body. _Not now!_ Her Rifts were shifting. She fell to her knees with a gasp. She had run out of magic energy, and while her Rifts were shifting, she couldn't use magic from there. All she had was her Fate sword.

"Stay back," she warned.

"Is that Titania?" someone asked quietly.

"Naw, Titania has red hair. This doll has pink hair."

Many of them were drunk, which wasn't good. While drunk people were sloppy fighters and easily defeated, they were unpredictable. Pain shot through her body, causing her hands to spasm and drop the sword. _No!_ They advanced. She pressed her mind against Natsu's. _Wake up. Trouble._ At first he didn't respond, but when she said trouble, he was up like a shot.

_On way_, he responded. She could tell that he was worried. Kari growled deep in her throat at the men. They paused in surprise, but it didn't last for long. She punched the closest guy in the face. But they kept coming closer.

Suddenly, two blurs, one pale and one dark, shot past her. To her uttermost shock, it was the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth - Sting and Rogue. _My luck just gets better and better._ But they drove off the drunkards. … _Huh?_

"Are you ok?" Sting asked, offering her a hand. He was handsome, she supposed. But his face had tint of cruelty to it.

"Uh… yeah… thanks…"

"I'm Sting."

"Kari." Oh, no. No way. She was blushing. She could feel it and it was _so _embarrassing.

"This is my partner, Rogue. But you probably already know that."

"Yeah, I've been watching the games." Aw, man, she sounded lame. _I most certainly do __**not**__ have a crush on him. That's ridiculous._ Sting looked at her funny. "What?" Did she have something on her face? Oh, crap, did she have parsley in her teeth from dinner? Why was she so concerned about this?!

"You wouldn't happen to be related to Natsu Dragneel, would you?" Oh. That's why he had been staring at her.

"Um… yeah, he's my brother. Twin brother." Sting raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"I didn't know he had a sister."

"I've been traveling a lot," she nervously explained. His nose twitched. _If he recognizes me as the Salamander, I'm going to have to make a run for it. _

"You in his guild, then?" She pulled back a little in surprise. Was this supposed to be an invitation to Sabertooth? _No thank you._

"No," she lied. If they thought that she didn't have magic, they should leave her alone. "Natsu does, though, and lots of it!"

"Hmm," Sting said, not really believing her. "We heard the distress call."_ Crap._ It was a mental distress call that only Dragon Slayers could use and hear.

"Natsu taught me to use it," she said. "Turns out that non-Dragon Slayers can use it, but not hear it. Crazy, huh?" She was rambling now. But the lie seemed to work. Sting nodded.

"Hey!" The three turned to see Natsu storming over. "What are you doing with my sister?"

"It's fine, Natsu," Kari assured him. "Sting and Rogue were helping me." Throughout the entire conversation Rogue hadn't said anything. Natsu watched them both suspiciously for a moment, then laced his fingers with Kari's.

"Ok. Come on, Kari."

"Just a moment." She squated down in front of Sting to pick up her sword, firmly keeping her eyes on the ground. Luckily for Sting, neither of the Dragneels noticed his intense blush when he caught a glimpse down her shirt. Kari threw a glance back at them a moment before Natsu picked her up and threw over his shoulder. "Natsu Dragneel! Put me down!"

Sting waved at her, amused. Kari grinned at him with a blush as Natsu turned a corner.

"She seems nice," Rogue commented. With an uncharacteristic evil smirk, he asked, "You plan on asking her out?" Sting turned red.

"N-No!"

"Uh-huh." Rogue grew serious again. "But seriously, Sting. Her brother is part of Fairy Tail. You know what the master would say." Sting nodded.

"Right." But he couldn't get her out of his head. Sure, a lot of girls freaked out over him, but she seemed like she didn't want to… Hmm. Strange.

* * *

**So... What do you think? A little bit of fluff, and a little bit of fighting. I think one chapter for each day of the GMG will be good. Review please!**


	17. Chapter 17: GMG Day Two Part One

**Today's my birthday! Oh, yeah! My cosplay outfit just arrived, and I'm currently wearing it. Natsu Dragneel, if you're wondering. The one that looks like a cross of his normal outfit, and his GMG outfit. Know what I mean?**

* * *

Kari could cry. The first event of the second day was **Chariot**. _Of course it would be moving. Of course I would be horribly motion sick. _Natsu, Gajeel, and Sting were in no better condition than she was. Natsu was in ninth, Gajeel was in eighth, Sting in seventh, and Kari in sixth. _This is pathetic! Get your act together, girl!_

"Screw this," she muttered. "**Flame Jump!**" Fire wrapped around her feet and rocketed her to first, where she kicked Raven Tail's Kurohebi off the wagon, disqualifying him. _Hehe._ When Bacchus tried to take first from her, she punched him into eighth.

At the end of **Chariot**, Kari observed the others. She had maintained her position of first, second being taken by Risley of Mermaid Heel. Yuka of Lamina Scale took third, and Ichiya of Blue Pegasus claimed fourth. Kari shuddered upon remembering him. He had tried to flirt with her after the event, which earned him the grand prize of a gauntlet in the face. Natsu, to her surprise, got fifth. She had expected him to tie with Gajeel and Sting for eighth. Speaking of Gajeel, he got seventh, leaving Sting in eighth.

Kari sighed and rolled her shoulders as she waited for the battles to begin. Kurohebi and Toby were fighting, and… well… let's just say that Toby was no longer 'top dog'. _Well, this next match ought to be interesting._ Elfman versus Bacchus. Her guildmate won, to her pleasure. She couldn't exactly cheer for him, since she was the Salamander right now, but she smiled under her helmet. She would congratulate him later.

People looked at the Salamander in surprise when she began to slam her head against the stone railing. It was a modeling competition between Jenny of Blue Pegasus and Mira of Fairy Tail Team B. The… interesting wager that the girls took made several men have nosebleeds. _Honestly… Posing nude for a magazine? That's a very dangerous wager…_ The second to last battle was between Yukino of Sabertooth and Kagura of Mermaid Heel. Yukino lost, placing her life in Kagura's hands.

"And now!" the pumpkin-man-thing announced. "The last battle of today! The Salamander versus the winners of the previous matches!" She saw Elfman groan. He had taken quite a beating from Bacchus. Wendy took his place for the match.

Kari turned her Fate sword into a blade longer than she was tall. _I need to pinpoint the most dangerous enemies… Have I seriously never seen Wendy fight before? Darn… If I don't know her abilities, things could get messy. Hmm… Mira for sure is a big concern, as well as Kagura. Kurohebi shouldn't be hard. Wendy is a timid girl, intimidating her into surrendering shouldn't be too hard._

Mira went into Satan Soul from the start, lashing out with her claws. Kurohebi took the cue and used his mimic magic - Sand Rebellion specifically - to attack her from behind. Thank goodness for Fate armor. Kari kicked Mira to the other side of the stadium with foot covered in fire, then raised a barrier of fire, trapping herself and Kurohebi inside.

"Would you like to know something?" Kari said as he tried to get away. "Well, now I have two things to tell you. I concentrated the heat near the bottom so you couldn't get away with that sand trick of yours. And something else…" Kari placed her sword at his neck. "I _hate_ ravens." She raised her sword and made as to cut his head off, but hit him on the back of the head with the hilt instead. _One down, three to go._ She let the wall down so the crowd could see the aftermath. The cheers were deafening. Kari's next target was Kagura. She had seen the damage that sword of her's could do even while sheathed. Time to unleash her Dragon Slayer magic.

* * *

Natsu had never been more fired up watching a fight than he was now. His sister was freaking awesome! He grinned even wider as he felt Kari getting ready to unleash her magic against Kagura.

"**Fire Dragon,**" she started.

"What!" the announcer exclaimed. "Another Dragon Slayer! A Fire Dragon Slayer like Natsu Dragneel no less! A fight between them would be the fight of a lifetime!" Natsu began to sweat nervously. Kari's Fate sword would be the biggest problem. Magic wise, they were about equal, but her prowess with her weapon was horrifying.

"**Fire Dragon: Ultimate Flame Destruction!**" Natsu's jaw dropped. He had never even heard of that spell before. _Did Igneel teach her things that he didn't trust me with?_ It didn't look like any of the spells that he had used before. It took out both Mira and Kagura. Wendy was unharmed thanks to the wind barrier that she created just in time.

"Amazing!" the announcer said. "The Salamander took out both the lovely Mirajane and Kagura in a single blow!" Now it was just Wendy. "How will Wendy Marvell go against what seems to be the most powerful wizard here?" Kari then used a technique that any Dragon Slayer worth his - er, her - salt wouldn't be scared by. Was Wendy aware of these kinds of tactics? The spell was the dragons's equivalent of a cat's hair standing on end to make itself look bigger. Kari was cloaked in flames, shattering the ground underneath her as she advanced toward the Sky Dragon Slayer. Natsu's throat went dry when he realized that this wasn't a scare tactic - this was the really thing. Kari was shattering the ground through sheer magical energy. But it wasn't Dragon Slayer magic… she must have opened one of her Rifts. He frowned. He was going to have to scold her. Opening a Rift was dangerous doing. If the power wasn't channeled fast enough into a spell, it would tear its bearer apart. Wendy nervously took a step back.

"Are you scared, little girl?" the Salamander asked mockingly. Before the beginning of the games, Kari had apologized in advance to the guild in case she scared or hurt any of the. As the time, many had scoffed, but judging by the looks on their faces… "It's not too late to surrender."

"**Sky Dragon Roar!**" No use. Kari deflected it with her flames without moving a muscle.

"Nice try," Kari said. "**Fire Dragon!"** The crowd seemed to hold its breath as Kari pulled back her fist. "**Sleep Spell.**" She cradled the girl gently as Wendy fell into a deep sleep. "I don't feel right about beating up a little girl," she commented, resting her on the ground.

"And… Impossibly, the Salamander has defeated all of her enemies! Amazing! I never dreamed that she was so powerful!" Kari simply fist pumped the air. _Crimson Dragon kicks Sabertooth's butt any day of the week._

* * *

**Yes, Kari, yes it could. Review please! Or I will kick your butts! I'm cosplaying as Natsu, I can do anything. **


	18. Chapter 18: Is This Arc Still Going On?

**Soo... This happened. Ok, so I'm lying there. Basically, I realized that it's been almost two years since I last posted a chapter for this story, and I swore to always finish my stories. If I'm being entirely honest, I lost all interest in this story, but due to going over the rest of this story and the third story, I've managed to psyche myself up for it again. I'll be taking a brief hiatus from the rest of my stories while I focus on finishing the Rft Trilogy.**

**Personally, I wish I had done a lot better with this Trilogy so far, because (cough it's all crap in my opinion cough) I was younger and not as good with writing as I am now. I shudder to even think of the novel I had been working on before this.**

** There's a significant change of writing styles in this chapter, because half of this was written at the beginning of the two year hiatus, a bit during, and the other half was written this evening. And at the end of the chapter is the beginning of a scene that I've literally been planning since I started this story. **

**Here's hoping you guys like it and will stick with it, like me, to the bitter end.**

* * *

"You did _what_?!" Gray winced at Kari's shout. She was not happy that Natsu had stormed Sabertooth's lodge for excommunicating Yukino. "You could have gotten Fairy Tail kicked out of the games! You could have been arrested, or worse, killed!" Natsu looked away, sulking. Kari sighed. "Just… think before you act, Natsu. I know that you were angry, but fighting won't solve anything."

"I know, I know," he muttered.

"I get worried about you," she said softly. "After that run-in with Sting and Rogue… Just watch your back in the games, ok? I don't want to have to go to jail for avenging your death."

* * *

After Cana destroyed the Magic Power Finder, Kari - who was next in line - was forced to take last by default. People avoided the Salamander's murderous aura. In truth, she was annoyed, but wouldn't hurt anyone unless they annoyed her further. She was, however, very impressed with Erza's performance in Pandemonium. Kari doubted that she could have done the same without opening a Rift.

As the battle portions went on, Kari felt that something was off. The fight between Laxus and Alexei was just too one-sided. The man was S-class, for goodness sake! He should at least be landing a couple blows! There was also a suspicious lack of the smell of blood, despite this fight. No, something was definitely up.

The further the battle went on, the more she leaned toward finding out what the heck was going on down there, to blazes with disqualification. But then the illusion broke, and she saw with shock that Laxus had been fighting and had defeated the entire Raven Tail team. _I wonder if they'll combine the two Fairy Tail teams_, Kari thought as Natsu lead the wine barrel surfing that evening as Fairy Tail celebrated. Raven Tail had been thrown out of the games.

A dark feeling filled Kari, and she shuddered. _I've got a bad feeling about tomorrow._

* * *

To say that Kari was annoyed with herself when she was the third person to be knocked out of the watch sphere was an understatement. Fire magic didn't work well underwater. To say that she was furious with Minerva's cruelty towards Lucy was a severe understatement. She darted forward and caught the blonde as she dropped from the other woman's grip, gently laying her down before giving her a murderous look.

"That was unnecessary," she growled in a low voice as Minerva delicately dropped from the water. "It was clear from the start that you were stronger than her." A medical team rushed out and took Lucy away on a stretcher. Kari threw out her arm to stop her furious brother from attacking Minerva, who was carelessly inspecting her nails. Sting, Rufus, and Orga were between them, watching the angry Salamander.

Kari pulled her Fate sword from her back, transforming it into a even bigger double edged broadsword and pointed it at Minerva. "Watch it," Sting snarled.

Ignoring him, Kari went on, "It is the duty of the strong to help those weaker than them, not punish them."

"Spoken like a weakling," Minerva scoffed. "What would you know of strength? Crimson Dragon hasn't been a force in Fiore for three hundred years. It has an even smaller chance of coming up than Fairy Tail."

"It doesn't matter if you're the number one guild, or the strongest guild in Fiore," Kari shrugged, changing her sword into a simple one handed sword and sheathing it. "I actually pity you."

"Pity?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, pity. You've just angered the most powerful wizards of Fairy Tail, who, if I recall correctly, were the reason Fairy Tail held number one for as long as they did. So yes, I pity you very much." Kari inwardly laughed at the brief flash of annoyance on the other woman's face as she turned around to return to her seat.

"Salamander!" Sting called. Kari barely turned her head. The field had cleared out, leaving just the two of them. "You are a Fire Dragon Slayer, correct?"

"Yes. What do you want?"

"I challenge you." The crowd went silent. "My dream is to fight Natsu Dragneel," he continued, then smirked at her. "You will be an adequate warm up. Also, we have a score to settle. No weapons. Only our magic and our limbs." Kari's shoulders began to shake seconds before she burst out into laughter. It echoed around the eerily quiet stadium.

"How amusing. I accept." The crowd roared into conversation. "Name your time."

"If the referee agrees, now." Kari could barely hear herself think with all the noise the crowd was making while the announcers' voices garbled in confusion and shock.

"Interesting. I'll be sure to make this quick." Anger flashed over Sting's face.

"Sting," Minerva called. "You're participating in the next event. Enough of this foolishness."

"Oh, don't worry, my lady," Kari waved cheerfully. "I won't hurt him much. He'll be in fine shape to fight in the next event." Sting glanced over at Jiemma, who slowly nodded after giving the matter some thought. She slammed her fists together as her armor changed and shifted, sparks floating around her.

Her helmet shifted to what looked like a dragon's skull tilted over her eyes, revealing only her nose and jaw. The rest of her armor had a similar bleached bone look, with intersecting bone and metal plates. Roughly unsheathing her sword, she flipped it into the air, shifting as it went, to land in her outstretched hand as a fairly long one handed sword before she stabbed it into the ground.

"Let's dance," Kari grinned.

* * *

**I've literally been planning this totally epic scene/fight since the start of the story. Well, the dialogue at the end. Everything else only happened this evening. XP Review and tell me what a horrible person I am for leaving this story for so long lolololol**


	19. Is Anyone Actually Reading This Anymore?

**Two chapters in one day? Wow! Ok, joking aside, there's the first swear word in this story at the end of this fight scene. It's the B-word, if you're wondering. I normally don't list that I have swear words, but this fic is rated as K+, so just in case. And depending on how the rest of the story turns out, this may get moved up to T.**

* * *

If Sting was entirely honest with himself, this might have not been his greatest idea. The Salamander was a powerful woman, even without her sword. She wasn't going easy on him either. His pride was grateful for that much, but he was hardpressed to keep up with her.

"**White Dragon: Roar!**" he shouted, a bright light shooting from his mouth. The Salamander countered it with a Roar of her own. He could feel the heat from several feet away. _Amazing! Is this the might of a first generation Dragon Slayer? No matter. I'm much stronger than her._ "**White Drive.**"

The Salamander cocked her head to the side, a grin teasing at the corner of her mouth. "Are you so weak that you need a spell to increase the power of your spells?" she asked in a mocking tone. Sting gritted his teeth and ignored the roar of the crowd. He would _not _lose to a member of a no name guild. "Well? I'm waiting. I'm a busy woman, after all." Sting snarled.

He shot forward with a burst of speed, getting up close. He imagined he could see the teasing glint of her eyes in the shadows of her face, which only angered him more. "**White Dragon: Claw!**" She caught his hand in mid-swipe.

"Is this it?" she asked. "Honestly, I've fought Vulcans with more strength than you." He snarled again and kicked out at her, catching her solidly in the stomach. "Ah, there's the vaunted power I've heard so much about. There wasn't much of it in our last encounter." There wasn't much speaking after that, as they were both fighting hand to hand.

The crowd cheered around him, but his acute senses heard Lector cheering for him, and he was determined. Sting Eucliffe would not lose.

"What do you say we make a bargain?" Sting asked as they briefly stood apart. "If I win, you tell me your name."

"And if I win?"

"That's not going to happen. But if it does, I suppose I'll owe you a favor." She thought on that for a few seconds.

"Very well. This ought to amuse the crowd, at any rate."

The Salamander was a strong opponent, but she wasn't without her flaws. Her main strength was in her magic and keeping people far away enough with her sword. After everything went down, he was still the stronger of the two. Sting had a lacrima to bolster his magic, and what did she have?

Nothing but her puny first generation Dragon Slayer magic and a sword that she couldn't use for now. He had this in the bag.

"**Dragon Force**," he grinned, feeling the depths of his power flow through him. The corners of her mouth turned down.

"Well, this just became a whole lot more troublesome. If that's how you want to play it… **San Keiretsu: Open.**" Sting's mind briefly went blank as he realized with shock and growing horror that he had challenged a Rift Child.

Rift Children, should they survive their childhood, were said to have such power that they could fight a demon of Zeref singlehandedly. And he had picked a fight with one.

Swallowing down something that was not fear - he wasn't as pathetic to actually feel fear at the hands of the Salamander - Sting began to charge his most powerful spell.

"**Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Holy Nova!**" _That ought to take her out,_ he thought with a smirk.

"**Yin Rift,**" he heard behind the smoke. His blood slowly began to run cold. "**Beam of Ankhseram.** By the way. Your outfit is just plain dumb." The smoke cleared to see the Salamander with singed armor, her right arm held horizontal to her chest and her left elbow resting on her wrist. She sighted along her arm at him and he realized just how out of his depth he was. But he wouldn't go down without doing some damage to her.

Sting moved quickly and got behind her, breathing in to do a more potent version of his first attack. "**White Dragon: Holy Breath!"** He felt a good deal of pleasure watching the Salamander get knocked across the stadium, her attack shooting up into the sky. _I'm glad I wasn't hit by that. It could have ruined my chances of doing well later, not to mention anger Jiemma._

The Salamander looked angry. She stalked over to him, the corners of her mouth turned down. With a sudden burst of speed, she appeared in front of him and punched Sting in the gut.

"Will you continue to fight against me?" she growled, glaring at him. He gave her a glare in return. The Salamander sighed. "This is boring. I forfeit." The crowd shouted in shock. From the judges' perspectives, she had been winning. She could have won while he was catching his breath. But she had been bored, and thus gave up.

"We're not done here," he shouted, standing.

"I'm done with you. You bore me."

"Then I demand my winnings you promised me in our bet." She paused.

"I did promise that, didn't I? Very well." They stood there as she turned back around and stared at him, mere feet separating them. Everyone around them waited with baited breath to hear the true name of the mysterious Salamander. A collective gasp went around them as she unlocked the clasps of her helmet. Not only would they learn her name, but they would see her face as well. Sting in particular was eager to see the face of the woman who had almost defeated him.

She pulled the helmet off, and hair the color of cherry blossoms spilled out. His breath caught in his throat with shock.

The woman he had rescued from drunkards just a few nights before stared at him with disdain. "I'm Kari Dragneel, _bitch_."

* * *

"So what was that about me not swearing?" Natsu asked with amusement as Kari shoved the door open, making her way to the bathroom.

"Sometimes it's called for," Kari muttered, her stomach rolling. _And that's why I don't use my Yin Rifts._ "Can we not discuss this right now? I'm about to… oh dear." She darted for the toilet, barely making it in time. Natsu kindly held her hair back as she introduced the contents of her stomach to the porcelain throne.

"Are you ok?" he asked after she stopped heaving.

"Yin Rift," she muttered, leaning against him. "Always makes me sick as a dog."

"That sucks," he snorted. "Wanna go eat ice cream and beat up Gray?"

"... Why not? Wait a minute, don't you have a match coming up?"

"FRICK."

* * *

"Amazing," Kari whispered as Gajeel led them deeper underneath the arena. All of the Dragon Slayers and their respective Exceeds, including Gray and Lucy, were exploring underneath the Domus Flau. Large caves made their voice echo, and as their eyes adjusted, they saw the huge skeletons half buried in the ground. "A dragon graveyard. Igneel spoke of these, but I had never seen one before." Natsu flinched at the mention of his foster father, refusing to look at his twin.

"Do you think our dragons are here?" Wendy asked timidly.

"Doubt it," Gajeel grunted. "These bones have been here for a lot longer than fourteen years."

"I could use **Milky Way**," the bluenette offered after a moment of thought. "It was in the spells that Porlyusica gave me."

"What does that do?" Lucy asked.

"It allows us to listen to the voices of dragon spirits," Wendy explained, happy to discuss her magic instead of focusing on the bones surrounding them. "We could find out what happened here, and maybe find out where our dragons are."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Kari grinned. "But the question is, can you cast it?" Wendy nodded firmly. "Then go for it."

She was able to find one by the name of Zirconis, who refused to speak to pathetic humans. Natsu punched a fist into his palm, ready to take on the briefly reanimated dragon, but Kari stopped him as Happy raised his hand.

"I'm a cat," he said.

"Oh. Well, it happened over four hundred years ago…" The Emerald Dragon went on to tell them the horrifying history of Dragon Slayer magic, and the rise of Acnologia. All four Dragon Slayers recoiled with horror as he told them the consequences of their magic. The dragon's spirit vanished, and Wendy fell panting to her knees.

"Do you think that it will happen to us too?" Kari asked quietly. "I think…. My Rifts protect me to a certain extent. And if it means that we turn into dragons…"

"Acnologia had help from Zeref and his Black magic," a voice behind them explained. They all spun to see Arcadios with Yukino in tow. "Killing Zeref before he creates such a monster will allow us to save the world."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Gray demanded. "The guy lived four hundred years ago." He explained his ridiculous plan to use something called the Eclipse Gate and the twelve zodiac keys to travel back in time and kill Zeref before he became immortal, thus ridding the future of Acnologia.

Then Darton entered with several guards and had Arcadios and Yukino arrested for treason, and took Lucy almost as an afterthought. He promised the blonde's release if they won the Grand Magic Games, but there was no way of telling if he spoke the truth.

_They took one of our own_, Kari thought grimly as they returned to the surface. _It's on._

* * *

**I have literally gone from half way through this arc to nearing the end. Is anyone excited? Is anyone even reading this?! *sigh***


End file.
